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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE THEORY 



THE SCHOOL 



7 

Howard Sandison. 



The demand of the age, in education, is the "practical." The most practica 

education that a child can receive is that education which sends him forth 

with a skilled* mind, trained to think accurately. It is a matter of 

comparative indifference whether the Period of Preparation — 

, i that of the Family, Kindergarten, and School — gives 

If. ' amount of knowledge, i. e., 3l /ull mind. 



SECOND EDITION, 

REVISED AND ENLARGED. 



X 



^tr ^-. .^-^/ 



s-Ji^Q ^Sl 



C. W. BROWN, PRINTER AND BINDER, TERRE HAUTE, IND. 
188;. 



Sources and References, 



Prominent among the sources and references consid- 
ered, are pamphlets and school reports by W. T. Harris; 
the principal American and English kindergarten works; 
The Cyclopedia of Education; the educational works of 
Laurie, Bain, Currie, Quick, Thring, and Fitch; Notes 
of Talks on Teaching, by L. E. Patridge; the Practical 
Teacher, a paper edited by F. W. Parker; Rousseau's 
Emile; Teaching Methods, by J. H. Hoose; The Train- 
ing System, by D. Stow; Porter's Elements of Intel- 
lectual Science; Everett's Science of Thought, and 
Hegel's Philosophy of History. 



COPYRIGHT, 1885, 

BY 

Howard Sandison. 



PREFACE. 



Originality, except in certain features, is not claimed 
for the theory as set forth in the following pages. 

The work is in part written by the author, and to a 
degree, arranged and coni})iled, the thought as a whole 
being in a certain sense the joint product of a study of 
some of the leading works on education, experience in 
teaching, supervising, and preparing students for work 
in the common schools. 

There is no claim to fullness of treatment. The book 
contains merely an outline that may form the basis for 
a discussion of the theory of the school. 










Theory of The School. 



CHAPTER 



THE SUBJECT OF EDUCATION. 

INFERENCES. 

Ariadne furnished him with a sword, with which to encounter the 
Minotaur, and with a clew of thread by which he might find his way out of 
the labyrinth.— Bulfinch's Ag-e of Fable. 



That mind is the real subject of education, is the 
fundamental thought of the theory of the school. The 
mind is a spiritual organism endowed with three dis- 
tinct capacities — the capacities of knowing, of feeling 
and of willing. This organism, with its several func- 
tions, is the subject of the educational process. 

1. Consideration and definition of organism. 

2. Illustrations. 

That which is distinctively human in a child or man 
is the emotional and volitional nature. This is the true 
life of a human being. This truer or higher Hfe, as dis- 
tinguished from the bodily and the intellectual is pro- 
vided with two instruments or servants — the intellect 
and the body. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



More specifically, then, mind as emotion and will is 
the subject of education in the higher sense, and bod}^ 
and intellect in the lower or instrumental sense. 

1. Distinguish and give examples of acts of intellect, sensi- 
bility and will. 

2. Show the organic relation of such acts. 

Education confers upon the mind no absolutely new 
capacities. All the powers that are found in the mind 
at maturity existed, then, in embryo in the mind at 
birth. Before the mind can apply itself successfully to 
the varied problems of active life it requires, like the 
body, a period of preparation. But a period of prepa- 
ration is, impliedly, a time of development. It may be 
stated, then, that the subject of education is a spiritual 
being, the essential principle of which is growth. Growth 
then becomes the fundamental principle of education, 
and the two marked stages of mind are: 

1. Development or training. 

2. Use. 

That mind, with these two distinct stages is the sub- 
ject of education, is the most significant truth that the 
teacher will encounter. If he absorbs this thought so 
as to make it a part of his very being, he is possessed 
at once of the sword of Ariadne. 

Several things are manifest, obviously : 

1. That knowledge, i. e., the different branches of 
study is not the subject of education. 

2. That a course of study by pages is inconsistent 
with the true theory of education. 

3. That real education is self-education; the child 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



being his own educator under the guidance of the 
teacher, who is merely a formal educator having both a 
negative and positive function. 

The negative function consists in removing impedi- 
ments, so as to allow free scope to the child's self-devel- 
opment. The positive function is to stimulate the child 
to the exercise of his powers, to furnish materials and 
occasions for their exercise, and to maintain and train 
the action of the mental powers. 

4. That the subject of education is thought, since to 
think is the function of the mind. 

5. That the essence of education lies in determining 
the best method of furnishing the faculties of the mind 
with material for exercise, of awakening and exercising 
the dormant faculties, of giving them strength and of 
training them into higher life. 

6. That education is a life-long process, the exercise- 
ground of mind being the institutions known as the 
family, school, church, business society, and state. 

7. That the family and the school form the exercise- 
ground of mind during its period of development and 
the other institutions during the period of use. 

While all teachers who have studied mind understand 
it to be an organism, and know and base their work 
upon the thouglit that the intellect is the avenue to the 
the sensibilities, that other truth, that the heart is also 
the avenue to the intellect is either not known, or but 
little acted upon if known. To make this essential 
thought, that the heart is the real avenue to the intellect, a 
vital part of one's teaching character, is the only guar- 



THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 



antee of success in dealing with mind, as otherwise the 
intellect may remain closed to all efforts to address it. 

If mind as an organism is the subject of education, 
this inter-relation of sensibilities and intellect must be 
understood and acted upon. 

But to present mind as the subject of education is not 
sufficiently definite, since mind may be viewed in sev- 
eral ways : 

1. Mind may be understood as the "universal sub- 
strate of all things." 

2. Mind in general, as presented in w^orks on mental 
science. 

3. Mind as embodied in the teacher. 

4. The minds of the pupils. 

The question becomes pertinent, In which of these 
views is mind the subject of education? 

No doubt the general answer would be mind in 
neither of the first three senses is the. subject, although 
that answer would by no means satisfy all, that systems 
of schools, studies, metho.ds, and means, have not fre- 
quently been adapted to mind in general, or to the 
teacher's own, instead of to the pupils' minds. Is it to 
be accepted, however, that the minds of the pupils form 
the subject of the educational process? If so, in what 
sense? "The minds of the pupils" is a very compre- 
hensive term. In a school of thirty pupils what does 
it mean ? 

It means in one case a young John Stuart Mill, in 
mind. 

It means in another case a mind from the depths, the 



THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 



very opposite of the perfection of child-nature found in 
the first. 

It means in a third case the average child-mind from 
the average home. 

Again, it means a boy who has had generations of 
vice and ignorance behind him. 

In another instance it means some child from a home 
of idleness and frivoRty. 

It means, perhaps, some child from the environment 
of stupidity and stunted life. 

It may mean a child with years of wrong methods 
behind him. 

In that room, beside the quick, intelligent child may 
sit a dull, contented nature, satisfied with dullness, 
neither wanting to know nor ashamed of not knowing. 
Each mind is different from the others. Each has its 
idiocracy, its special traits. The degrees of capacity 
are different. The degrees of apathy are different. 
The causes of apathy are different. All of these are 
included in "The minds of the pupils." 

What, then, is the subject in teaching? 

The best minds of the pupils? Then the average 
and the poorest are wronged. 

The average minds of the school? Then the best 
and the worst are deprived of their due. 

The poorest minds that are found in the room? This 
would be manifest injustice to the others. 

Is not the fundamental truth this — that each particu- 
lar mind with its special traits and idiosyncracies is 
the true subject of the educating process — the subject 



10 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

to which teacher, methods, and means, are to be 
adapted? 

The individual mind, tlien, with its two stages of 
development and use, is the subject of education in its 
full sense. 

The teacher who is thoroughly imbued with this 
thought is possessed of both the sword and the thread 
of Ariadne. 

If the individual minds are the subject, several infer- 
ences present themselves : 

1. The teaclier must study mind. 

2. That the sources of the study of mind are three: 
a. From books, Porter, Hopkins, Hickok, Carpenter, 

etc., giving a knowledge of mind in general — the true 
basis for a study of the individual minds. 

. h. The acts and phenomena of the teacher's own 
mind, to which he always has immediate access. 

6'. The activity of the pupils' minds, to which he 
always has mediate access through their outward acts 
and words. 

The two cardinal truths which need, more than any 
others, to be impressed upon the mind of each teacher 
are, first, that each individual mind under his charge is 
the true subject of his educational efforts; second, that 
he cannot obtain the best results in teaching, indeed, 
that he cannot be a real teacher, unless he understands 
the mind. with which he must deal. What kind of a 
blacksmith is he who does not understand iron? What 
kind of a foreman in a wool factory is a person who can- 
not judge of wool? What kind of a teacher is that one 
who cannot judge of mind and mind action? 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 11 

It is true that there are teachers endowed with the 
power of sympathizing so earnestly with children, that 
in their case this sympathy does the work of knowledge, 
or rather it is knowledge unconsciously exercising the 
power proverbially attributed to it. The intense interest 
they feel in their work almost instinctively leads them 
to adopt the right way of doing it. They are artists 
without knowing that they are artists. They are acting 
upon the principle that the feelings are the avenue to 
the intellect, that interest is the basis of attention, and 
attention the basis of intellectual power, without being 
conscious of it. But considering the large number of 
teachers, such examples are rare, and as a general pro- 
position it will be found to be true that the only truly 
efficient director of moral and intellectual action is the 
one who understands the true nature of the mind he is 
guiding. It is this knowledge that makes teaching a 
psychological art. One who does not possess it is 
attempting to guide an organism of exquisite capabili- 
ties which he does not comprehend. The fact that there 
is so large a number of persons in positions as school 
trustees and as teachers without understanding even 
the most fundamental facts concerning the minds with 
which their work has to do, explains the courses of study 
by pages, the telling, cramming, the endless explain- 
ing, the unnecessary assisting, the rote-learning, the fre- 
quent examinations that are mere tests of memory, and 
not of power, the fierce struggle for per cents by teach- 
ers for their rooms and by pupils for themselves, and all 
that kind of work which regards mere knowledire to be 



12 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

the subject of education, and which enfeebles and dead- 
ens the native powers of the child. True teaching has 
but little in common with that system of telling and 
cramming which so generally usurps its name, and 
which results not merely in comparatively empty 
minds, but in closed minds, minds indifferent and stolid 
as to education and its value. Un teachable minds is 
the usual result of the work of those who do not under- 
stand the subject of their work. 

3. If each individual mind is the teacher's subject 
the third inference is obvious — that the number of 
pupils under the charge of one teacher should be small 
enough for the teacher to become thoroughly acquainted 
with the capacities and defects of each mind, while it 
should not be too small to deprive the pupils of the 
advantage which comes from the contact of mind with 
various different minds. 

It may, perhaps, be safely held that the suitable 
number of pupils for a teacher vibrates between tw^enty 
and thirty, owing to the teacher's penetration in com- 
prehending character and its needs. It is a serious, not to 
say an irreparable injury to a community, when a school 
board, under the idea that it is a stroke of economy, 
and a gain to the people, place one hundred children 
in charge of two teachers at an annual expense to the 
taxpayers of one thousand dollars, instead of employ- 
ing to educate them, four teachers, with twenty-five to a 
room at an annual expense of two thousand dollars. 

If it is true, as is held, that numbers higher than 
about thirty shut off attention to individual minds, 



thp: theory of the school. 13 

then a little reflection makes it obvious that the second 
procedure would be far more economical to the com- 
munity. 

In the first place, the attempt of the teacher to deal 
with fifty children makes it impossible to give that 
attention to the peculiar nature and needs of each child 
that the parent has a right to demand when he hands 
him over to the care of the schools and pays for that 
care. The problem is to reach and teach the mind of 
each child. Anything other than this would be mani- 
fest injustice to some families of those represented by 
the fifty children. With fifty children one teacher can- 
not understand their individual minds and needs well 
enough to teach to each mind each branch of study 
well and neglect no one of them, and this is not taking 
into account the subject of discipline and moral culture, 
which is very much complicated by numbers. The 
teacher has neitfier the knowledge of the minds nor the 
time to adapt herself and her work to each mind, and 
she is, therefore, compelled to address the minds as a 
mass, to pour out knowledge before them and let those 
who can, adapt themselves to it, and the others remain 
without even this kind of help. The result is an 
attempt to inform to a given extent, each month, and 
not to educate, because to educate requires that each 
mind shall be understood. In this way but little inter- 
est is aroused in the pupils, and the process of cram- 
ming is received at first with protest, then with indiffer- 
ence, and at last the hundred pupils of the two teachers 
pass out of school, none of them educated in the sense 



14 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

that education is development; some few, those who 
needed it least, well instructed perhaps; others but 
fairly instructed ; and still others, perhaps fifty out of 
the hundred, and they the ones who needed training 
most, with little or nothing in the way of intellectual 
and moral power, and worse than this, indifferent to 
education and its value, the effect of the schools having 
been to make them contented in their ignorance and 
lack of power. 

The question naturally arises. In which case has the 
school board done most good to the community? Which 
course would be true economy? Would the com- 
munity have been richer in having expended only one 
thousand dollars, and in having received the children 
back into the active walks of life as above described, 
which is no untrue picture, or in having spent two 
thousand dollars, tlius insuring a sufficient number of 
teachers to give individual attention to the needs of the 
children, and receiving them at last from the scliools 
with their moral and intellectual powers well trained, 
with minds active, skilful and capable; with new long- 
ings, and new capacities for satisfying those longings; 
with minds as receptive and skilled as each individual 
case is capable of being made ? Which is worth most to 
a neighborhood, one thousand dollars or one hundred 
children morally and intellectually strong? 

If individual minds are the subject of education is it 
not a proper inference that school boards should see to 
it that the number in charge of each teacher is small 
enough to enable the teacher to read each mind and 
then adapt herself and her work to each mind ? 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 15 

4. If it be admitted that the individual mind is the 
subject of the teacher's work, then a fourth inference is 
that the teacher should remain long enough with the 
pupils to be able to see into their peculiarities of dispo- 
sition and environment. This can not be well accom- 
plished in six months, nor in one year, and the thought 
that arises is that the teachers of the country schools 
should not be changed so often, and that the teachers in 
the city schools should be promoted with their classes. 
Viewing this principle alone — that time gives the teacher 
the opportunity to know the minds of the pupils — 
the thought would be that the pupil should have but 
one teacher during school life. But another principle — 
that the pupil's mind gains greater breadth and power 
by coming into contact with different minds — seems to 
require variety in teachers. With the two principles in 
consideration it may be held that there should be two 
or three changes of teachers during the school course. 
It is obvious, of course, that if the teacher is inefficient, 
the sooner a change is made the better ; on the supposi- 
tion, however, that the school boards and superintend- 
ents do not compHcate the selection of teachers by 
geographical family, and other arbitrary considerations, 
but make moral and intellectual fitness the sole test — a 
supposition which in a work on theory may be per- 
mitted—a greater length of time with a given class than 
is now allowed would be a gain, inasmuch as it would 
necessarily result in the teacher's gaining a more inti- 
mate acquaintance with the individual minds of the 
pupils. 



16 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

5. It is also seen that if individual mind with its 
peculiarities is the subject, the regular studies of the 
course should not be so many as to engross all the 
time and strength of the pupils; enough extra studies 
being provided to satisfy their various natures and 
peculiarities. This requirement is met, to a certain 
degree by the general lessons, readings, and conversa- 
tions of the lower grades, and by the elective studies in 
the higher schools. 

Mind being the real subject in education, the impor- 
tance of its study, as before suggested, at once becomes 
manifest. The study of mind in general, as presented 
in Porter, Hickok, Carpenter, and others, will give the 
teacher a comprehensive knowledge of the various facul- 
ties, their order of development and inter-dependence, 
the laws of their action, their processes and products — 
knowledge of great advantage to the educator. But 
many object, and truly, that they have neither time nor 
opportunity for such studies. 

Mind and its action are, however, accessible to these. 
As was before observed, each teacher has direct access to 
the phenomena of his own mind and indirect access to 
the minds of his pupils through their actions and words. 

Systematic, patient study in these two lines will make 
plain many things concerning the mental faculties and 
their growth. 

The intelligent observer will see among other things 
that the imagination and the spontaneous memory 
are active in the early years, and that the j^ower to learn 
through the logical faculty is but feeble. It will appear 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 17 



that the power of eontinuous attention is not possessed, 
should not be expected, needs to be developed; that the 
power to observe, usually supposed to be acute in the 
child when he enters school, is by the third or fourth 
year of school, practically dormant. A brief notice of 
what these mental facts imply is due. Neglect in ob- 
serving mind action has led to neglect in the cultivation 
of the imagination. It is, however, a faculty worthy of 
cultivation, and necessary alike to the intellectual, and 
to the moral education. This, while fully recognized in 
the kindergarten, lias not been, in general, in the schools. 
Its central principle — the imagination creates no new 
material's a con firm nti on, in one sense of Jacotot's 
paradox "Tout est dans tout" (All is in all.) This facul- 
ty gives to the child the unknown in or from the known. 
It furnishes knowledge otherwise unattainable; it gives 
life, interest, and authority to the action of the under- 
standing by the rich illustration which it suggests; and 
by its power of setting before the child scenes of other 
lands and distant times, past or future, it provides nour- 
ishment for the moral nature. It is, moreover, a con- 
stant source of liap|)iness through the pleasant images 
with which it fills the min-i. Observation is limited to 
very narrow boundaries of space and time; to whatever 
extent the child passes these it must be on the wings of 
the imagination. Accordingly, as already implied, de- 
scriptions of natural scenery, and scenes from life, real or 
ideal, are the field in which this mode of intelligence is 
to be exercised, and both are very rich in materials. It 
is clear at once that the instruments available for the 



18 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

cultivation of this faculty are two — language and ^pictorial 
illustration. All these facts are obvious to the teacher 
who watches his own mind and the minds of children, 
and they suggest a problem, and indicate a line of work 
for the teacher's own improvement. Tiie problem is, 
what is the method of using language, and pictorial 
illustration in the cultivation of the imagination? The 
line of work is the mastery of description and narration 
as language forms for expressing and conveying thought. 

The spontaneous memory, the form to be observed in 
childhood, like a sponge, absorbs everything that comes 
in contact with it. Unlike the power afterwards acquired 
of fixing in mind by conscious effort, whatever is 
judged worthy of being retained, it is a natural power by 
which the child receives and stores up, with little or no 
effort, whatever comes before the mind, whether it is 
worthy to be held or not. The fact that the child pos- 
sesses this power in a high degree is of great significance 
in early education. It shows that the early years are 
pre-eminently years for gathering materials for thought, 
and it furnishes also the ground for judicious selection 
and an organized series of impressions. It has been 
said, however, by Lord Lytton that to attempt to sys- 
tematize the child's impressions, at least in his most 
tender years, is to proceed as the man who thought that 
his bees would produce more honey, if instead of wan- 
dering from flower to flower, they were shut up in the 
hive and furnished with flowers. 

The bees, however, are not endowed with an unguided 
power of selection which causes them to take honey 



THE thp:oky of the school. 19 



from every flower, be it poisonous or otherwise, as the 
spontaneous memory of the child drinks in alike the 
good and bad, to have a marked influence on character 
not yet formed. Moreover, while the bees are possessed 
of a natural and fully developed power of selection, and 
the man who was to furnish them with flow^ers had no 
power of selection in that respect; in the case of chil- 
dren their power of selection and arrangement is un- 
developed, but that of their educator is supposed to be 
developed and matured. 

That the child possesses the power of spontaneous 
memory, drinking in and retaining all kinds of impres- 
sions seems to establish three thoughts in regard to early 
education : First, that there should be a systematic selec- 
tion and organization of the impressions that he is to 
receive. This is admirably accomplished in the kinder- 
garten. Second, that the first work in the primary 
schools should l)e to supplement the work already done 
in the kindergarten, or to partially fill its place if the 
child has not been under its influence, by opening to 
him as materials for thought; in connection with all 
necessary work, all that wliicli will inspirit and interest; 
all that whicli is wonderl'ul, weird, [)icturesque, beauti- 
ful, and noble, in connection with humanity, nature and 
art, and at the same time within his mental range; as, 
when he studies direction, connect with it some beauti- 
ful poem or song on sunset, or some pathetic narration 
of noble deeds in Arctic regions; some attractive descrip- 
tion of that icy wonderland, and its inhabitants with 
their queer homes and customs. Thus in every phase 



20 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

of work during these early years, so that this attractive, 
and also useful fund, may be stored by their active 
memories and render lighter in both senses, and more 
interesting all the work of future years. In education, 
a great deal depends upon the first impressions of the 
work. The third thought is that in all phases of educa- 
tion, inaccuracies of pronunciation, of sentence construc- 
tion, of facts, etc., should be rigidly excluded, as their 
tendency is to sink into the mind and remain there. 

The undeveloped state in the child, of the power to 
reason, except in the presence of things, determines that 
in his early stages, and in the beginning of many kinds 
of work in more advanced stages, he is not to learn by 
any abstract logical process. The teacher, it is true, is 
to have clearly in mind a logical line of work and adhere 
to it, but his actual teaching will lie fragmentary, chang- 
ing apparently, and full of illustrations as required by 
the needs of individual minds. 

The real subject is the individual mind, and the prob- 
lem is how to call forth interest and active thought 
without making too* great a demand upon the logical 
faculty. To accomplish this two things are required, 
one negative and the other positive. The first is, that 
as a general rule, no attempt should be made to present 
to the mind, at any given time, that which is not needed 
and can not be used at that time, under the thought 
that it may be useful hereafter. Usually, that which is 
presented under such conditions does not arouse inter- 
est and thought, but becomes useless encumbrance. 
Nothing should be taught which is not needed and 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 21 



capable of being used at the time, and which is not the 
best and most easy way of meeting the want. 

"Wouldst thou possess thy heritage, essay 

By use to render it thine own! 

What we emjiloy not but impedes our way. 

That which the hour creates that can it use alone." 

—Goethe's Faust, 

The second requirement is that all early work and in 
general the beginning stages of advanced work, should 
be as before intimated, presented to the senses, or 'pic- 
tured out' to the mind. The child under such circum- 
stances is able to reason, to think; but his thinking will 
be in the presence of things, and his power of abstract 
thinking, when it does come will be a natural develop- 
ment from his sensuous thinking. The usual mistake is 
to thrust an abstract process of learning upon the child 
by requiring him to think in the presence of nothing, or 
of mere word§. 'Picture out' to the body's eye or to 
the mind's eye, is the first principle of early teaching if 
individual minds are to be made the real subject. 

The general directions under this point are: 

1. See; examine what you see; lastly, answer. 

2. Make no attempt to remember anything you can 
not put before the eye, or picture to the mind's eye. 
Memory is not visible or mental sight; think in shape. 
Examples may tend to set forth these thoughts more 
clearly. 

The pupil is asked to describe an apple. The usual 
tendency is to close the eyes and evolve the answer from 
the inner consciousness; but the mind's development as 
it is, and as it is to be, requires that the pupil should 



22 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

picture to himself the thing to be described in as many 
aspects as possible, one by one, compare it with things 
most like it; and then present the peculiar points that 
make it different from other things. 
The process is : 

1. Picture an apple. Put one before the senses if 
possible; if not picture it in th^ mind. 

2. Analyze, i. e., note its shape, color, texture, parts — 
pips, core, skin, juice, etc. 

3. Compare with other things. 

All these things are seen, as soon as the apple is seen, 
and intelligent sight gives the description required. The 
untrained mind begins to try to remember what it knows 
about an apple. The requirement may be to describe a 
field. This should bring forth the condition at a par- 
ticular time. The untrained child would evolve from 
his inner consciousness. If the work is done according 
to the principle under discussion the process would be 
somewhat as follows: — 

1. See or picture to the mind the field : as, time of 
year — autumn; time of day — afternoon; kind of day — 
clouds and sun; stubble; ground broken and uneven; 
bounded by hills on one side; trees, small lake, cattle; 
direction of view — west. 

2. Reflect upon these elements. 

3. Describe. 

Again, the pupil may be asked to state the meaning of 
'when.' According to the thought being considered, the 
first thing to be done is to see it in its relations. This 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 23 

may be done by constructinoj sentences that picture out 
the two meanings of "when," thus: 

"When Ft. Sumter was fired upon, compromise was 
at an end." 

"When he was in the army, he wrote for the press." 

The word in the first sentence means the exact mo- 
ment, but in the second it means at various indeter- 
minate times. It thus appears that the sight of two 
well-selected sentences in which "when" occurs reveals, 
that either a particular moment is meant, or any time 
in a given period, two very different thoughts. 

9 is I of what number? may be asked. 

The absence in the child of the power to reason 
abstractly determines what in regard to such work? 
John Stuart Mill says : " The fundamental truths of the 
science of number all rest upon the evidence of the senses ; 
they are proved by showing to our eyes, that any given 
number of objects — ten balls, for example — may by 
separation and re-arrangement, exhibit all the different 
sets of numbers, the sum of which is equal to ten. 

All improved methods of teaching arithmetic to 
children proceed upon a knowledge of this fact. All 
who wish to carry the chikVs mind along with them in 
learning arithmetic — all who wish to teach numbers and 
not mere cyphers — now teach it through the evidence 
of the senses." 

One who does not hold to this view may attempt to 
have the child see the relations in the above problem 
by some such analysis as the following : 

J is ^ of f. If 9 is f of the number \ of the number 



24 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



equals ^ of 9, which is 3. | of the number equal the 
number. If i of the number is 3, | of the number, or 
the number equals 4 times 3, which is 12. Therefore, 9 
equals f of 12. 

One, however, who sees clearly that a principle of 
early teaching is— the relations must be presented to the 
senses, or pictured to the mind's eye— will put the rela- 
tions before the pupils in some concrete way : as. 



AAA AAA AAA AAA 
9 
and then ask him what he sees. Among the many rela- 
tions he will perceive in a way that will enable him to 
hold it, and also to more readily see other relations, that 
9 is f of 12. 

The teacher who has no opportunity to study psy- 
chology as given in books, will clearly see this mental 
fact that is now under view — the rational faculty, the 
power to learn in an abstract way through the logical 
faculty is undeveloped in the child — if he studies with 
care and intelligence the phenomena of his own mind, 
and the individual minds of the children through the 
medium of their words, actions and the play of their 
countenances. 

Such study will also show, as previously indicated, 
that the power of continuous attention is not possessed 
by the child. That knowledge will prevent many mis- 
takes on the part of the teacher by his consequent per- 
ception of the truth that attention is but little more to 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 25 



be assumed than a knowledge of the multiplication 
table, and that it must be taught as a habit, just as the 
other must as an element of knowledge. 

The teacher has an important educational principle 
when he understands that the germ of attention, the 
capacity to attend, is the condition of education, but that 
the power to attend is the result of education. It will 
then be manifest that inattention is natural in the child, 
and that the problem is to determine the kind of teach- 
ing that will build up the habit of attention ; the kind 
that will not foster inattention. 

Observation having shown the teacher that inatten- 
tion is natural in the child, reflection will make it clear 
that among the things by which inattention is fostered 
are the following : — 

1. Apathetic, uninterested demeanor on the part of 
the teacher. 

2. Too little' attention to trifles and to beginnings in 
laxness in recitations, and in disorder. 

3. Too much attention to them, and the setting over 
against each point of inattention and disorder its fixed 
arbitrary penalty. 

4. The concentration of the teacher's attention on the 
point being discussed in the class, and on the pupil re- 
citing, to the exclusion of the other members. 

5. Failure to train the pupils into careful habits of 
attentive study. Pupils frequently sit at their desks 
during their study hours attentive as to the eye, but in- 
attentive as to the mind. In spirit they are absent, 
although the eye travels along each line and the woids 



26 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 

come as images before the mind. Often after a page or 
more has been conned in this mechanical way the mind 
awakens to the fact that the thought contained in the 
words has been in no sense obtained. In all such cases, 
which are not infrequent, the pupil could appropri- 
ately say with the poet : 

My soul to-day, 

Is far away, 

Sailing the Vesuvian Bay; 

My winged boat, 

A bird afloat. 

Swims round the purple peaks remote. 

This habit will necessarily reappear in the recitation 
room. 

6. Poor arrangement of the class as to its position in 
relation to the teacher. Some hold that if the class is 
standing, the arrangement should Vje the horse shoe 
shape, in order that all may be equally within spiritual 
touch of the teacher. 

7. Inattention to the bodily attitude of the pupil 
when studying and when reciting. It is said tliat Lord 
Byron in preparing to write was as scrupulous in regard 
to his appearance as he would have been had he been 
preparing for a royal reception. In a less degree such 
was the fact in regard to Washington Irving. And it is 
generally observed by any one who gives attention to it, 
that he writes more logically and more pointedly when 
using pen and ink than when writing with a pencil. 
These things indicate the law. 

8. Too long lessons, and too great a length of school 
hours. 



THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 27 



Elaborate the eight points given, and make it clear, why the 
habit of inattention becomes more firmly fixed by means of 
them. 

Omitting all study of psychology as presented in 
books, if need be, the close study of the phenomena of 
his own mind on the part of the teacher, and the pa- 
tient, intelligent, and persistent study of child nature 
will necessarily equip the teacher with several additional 
truths in regard to education. With the truth: — 

1. That there can be no thinking without materials 
for thought. 

2. That there can be no materials for thought with- 
out observation. 

3. That in the beginning of its career the child ob- 
serves and gathers materials for thought naturally and 
spontaneously. 

4. That ver.y early in his school course, through 
familiarity with the surface of things, through ignor- 
ance and repression on the part of his instructors, 
through memory and rote-work, both the desire and the 
power to observe are to a large. degree non-existent in 
the average school child. " Having by our method 
induced helplessness, we make the helplessness a reason 
for our method," and continue the cramming and tell- 
ing process, on the ground that the child can not observe 
and decide for himself. 

5. That the fundamental, and hence the absolutely 
necessary first step in conscious education is to implant 
in the child, first the desire, and second the habit of 



28 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

conscious observation — the habit of consciously gather- 
ing the material for its thinking. . 

One without the power of accurate observation is not 
only without the power of gathering the materials for 
his thinking, but he is also deprived in a large degree 
of legitimate enjoyment. A person who is not firmly 
grounded in the habit of observing is in the same con- 
dition as is one who is ignorant of Latin. Schopen- 
hauer says, "One who is without Latin is as a man 
walking tlirough a beautiful region in a fog. The hori- 
zon is close about him.'' 

A study of the mind of the average pupil will make 
clear both the practical absence of the power of obser- 
vation and the absolute necessity for it. Pestalozzi's 
fundamental principle was, " Observation is the absolute 
basis of all knowledge." 

The power and the benefit of observation, i. e., of the 
habit of seeing things in nature, art and books, and 
reflecting in the presence of them can scarcely be over- 
estimated. "Turner, the eminent land-scape painter," 
says an English writer, " was often observed to spend a 
whole day in throwing pebbles into the water while 
others were working around him. His power of obser- 
vation was so great, and his patience and love so 
unwearied, that with his trained eye he could find 
intense interest, and gather lessons above all price from 
the ripple, and the wave, and the play of light, and 
harmonious discord of varying movements, from the 
common curves, made by a common stone, falling into 
common water; over which the untrained eye and mind 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 29 



could not spend a profitable moment. Before his eyes 
was spread the ever stationary, ever moving mirror, the 
changeful eternity of light that flows, the gliding earth- 
born light of water, with its strange memories of higher 
worlds, and strange affinities to cloud and sky, free 
beyond all earthly things to come and go, still loving to 
borrow, as it moves, brightness from sky, and gleams 
from cloud, or shore, and welcoming in its bosom, like 
a living thing, all images that reach it in its course ; he 
stood and looked upon it, and tried to unlock its secrets, 
and conscious or unconscious of the full interpretation, 
caught some glimpses of the great illuminated text of 
the book of the thoughts of God, appreciated the exqui- 
site subtlety of the handwriting of speech divine, 
became a kind of living microscope in his power of 
seeing unknown beauty, and then handed on to us non- 
seers the gain of new discovery to be henceforth a part 
of the possession of the world. A common stone thrown 
into common water could thus become a prophet, reveal- 
ing beauty and truth. But to whom does the prophet- 
voice of stones and water speak? A careful analysis 
will show that the great painter, the genius, could see 
and understand because he had learnt by years of 
patient work to observe more than others^ 

The difference in persons as to their power to observe, 
in the sense in which Pestalozzi uses the term, and the 
value of the habit may be made more vivid by consider- 
ing the following, in which an English school-master 
converses with two of his pupils concerning their em- 
ployment of a holiday : 



30 thp: theory of the school. 



Master. "Well, Robert, where have yon been walking this 
afternoon ? 

Robert. I have been, sir, to Broom-heath, and so around 
by the windmill upon Camp-mount, and home through the 
meadows by the river side. 

M. Well, that's a pleasant round. 

R. I thought it very dull, sir; I scarcely met with a single 
person. I had rather by half have gone along the turnpike 
road. 

M. Why, if seeing men and horses is your object, you would, 
indeed, be better entertained on the high-road. But did you 
see William ? 

R. We set out together, but he lagged behind in the lane, so 
I walked on and left him. 

M. That was a pity. He would have been company for you. 

R. Oh, he is so tedious, always stopping to look at this thing 
and that ! I dare say he is not home yet. 

M. Here he comes. Well, William, where have you been? 

W. O, sir, the pleasantest walk ! I went all over Broom- 
heath, and so up to the mill at the top of the hill, and then 
down among the green meadows by the side of the river. 

M. Why, that is just the round Robert has been taking, and 
he complains of its dullness, and prefers the high-road. 

W. I wonder at that. I am sure I hardly took a step that 
did not delight me, and I have brought my handkerchief full 
of curiosities home. 

M. Suppose, then, you give us some account of what amus- 
ed you so much. I fancy it will be as new to Robert as to me. 

W. I will, sir. The lane leading to the heath, you know, is 
close and sandy, so I did not mind it much, but made the best 
of my way. However, I spied a curious thing enough in the 
hedge. It was an old crab-tree, out of which grew a great 
bunch of something green, quite different from the tree itself. 
Here is a bunch of it. 

M. Ah ! this is misseltoe, a plant of great fame for the use 



TlfE THEOHY OF THK SCHOOL. 31 



made of it by the Druids of old in their rehgious rites and in- 
cantations. It bears a very sHmy white berry, of which bird- 
lime may be made, whence its Latin name of viscus. It is one 
of those plants which do not grow in the ground by a root of 
their own, but fix themselves upon other plants; whence they 
have been humorously styled parasitical, as being hangers-on 
or dependents. It was the misseltoe of the oak that the 
Druids particularly honoured. 

W. A little further on I saw a green woodpecker fly to a 
tree, and run up the trunk like a cat. 

M. That was to seek for insects in the bark, on which they 
live. They bore holes with their strong bills for that purpose, 
and do much damage to the trees by it. 

W. What beautiful birds they are ! 

M. Yes; they have been called, from their colour and size, 
the English parrot. 

W. When I got upon the open heath, how charming it was ! 
The air seemed so fresh, and the prospect on every side so free 
and unbounded! Then it was all covered with gay flowers, 
many of which I had never observed before. There were at 
least three kinds of heath (I have them in my handkerchief 
here) and gorse, and broom, and bellflower, and many others 
of all colours, that I shall beg you presently to tell me the 
names of. 

M. That I will readily. 

W. I saw, too, several birds that were new to me. There 
was a pretty grayish one, of the size of a lark, that was hopping 
about some great stones; and when he flew he showed a great 
deal of white above his tail. 

M. That was a wheat-ear. They are reckoned very delicious 
birds to eat, and frequent the open downs in Sussex, and some 
other countries, in great numbers. 

W. There was a flock of lapwings upon a marshy part of the 
heath, that amused me very much. As I came near them, 
some of them kept flying round just over my head, and cry- 



32 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



ing pervel so distinctly one might fancy they almost spoke. I 
thought I should have caught one of them, for he flew as if one 
of his wings was broken and often tumbled close to the ground ; 
but as I came near, he always made a shift to get away. 

M. Ha, ha! you were finely taken in then ! This was all an 
artifice of the bird to entice you away from its nest; for they 
build upon the bare ground, and their nests would easily be 
observed, did they not draw off the attention of intruders by 
their loud cries and counterfeit lameness. 

W. 1 wish I had known that, for he led me a long chase, 
often over shoes in water. However, it was the cause of my 
falling in with an old man and a boy who were cutting and 
piling up turf for fuel, and I had a good deal of talk with them 
about the manner of preparing the turf, and the price it sells 
at. They gave me, too, a creature I never saw before — a young 
viper, which they had just killed, together with its dam. I 
have seen several common snakes, but this is thicker in pro- 
jiortion, and of a darker colour than they are. 

M. True. Vipers frequent those turfy boggy grounds pretty 
much, and I have known several turf cutters bitten by them. 

W. They are very venomous, are they not? 

M. Enough so to make their wounds painful and danger- 
ous, though they seldom prove fatal. 

W. Well — I then took my course up to the windmill on the 
mount. I climbed up the steps of the mill in order to get a 
better view of the country round. What an extensive pros- 
pect! I counted fifteen ch urch -steeples ; and I saw several 
gentlemen's houses peeping out from the midst of green woods 
and plantations; and I could trace the windings of the river 
all along the low grounds, till it was lost behind a ridge of hills. 
But I'll tell you what I mean to do, sir, if you will give me 
leave. 

M. What is that? 

W. I will go again, and take with me Carey's county map, 
by which I shall probably be able to make out most of the 
places. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 33 



A/. Yon shall have it, and 1 will go with you, and take my 
pocket telescope. 

TT'. I shall be very glad of that. Well — a thought struck 
me, that as the hill is called Camp-mount, there might probably 
be some remains of ditches and mounds with which, I have 
read that camps are surrounded. And I really believe that I 
discovered something of that sort running round one side of 
the mount. 

M. Very likely you might. I know antiquaries have 
described such remains as existing there, which some suppose 
to be Roman, others Danish. We will examine them further, 
when we go. 

W. From the hill I went straight down to the meadows 
below, and walked on the side of a brook that runs into the 
river. It was all bordered with reeds and flags and tall flower- 
ing plants, quite diflerent from those I had seen on the heath. 
As I was getting down the bank to reach one of them, I heard 
something plunge into the water near me. It was a large 
water-rat, and I saw it swim over to the other side, and go into 
its hole. There -were a great many large dragon-flies all about 
the stream. I caught one of the finest, and have him here in 
a leaf. But how I longed to catch a bird that I saw hovering 
over the water, and every now and then darting down into it ! 
It was all over a mixture of the most beautiful green and blue, 
with some orange colour. It was somewhat less than a thrush, 
and had a large head and bill, and a short tail. 

M. I can tell you what that bird was — a kingfisher, the cele- 
brated halcyon of the ancients, about which so many tales are 
told. It lives on fish, which it catches in the manner you saw. 
It builds in holes in the banks, and is a shy retiring bird, never 
seen far from the stream where it inhabits. 

W. I must try to get another sight at him, for I never saw 

a bird that pleased me so much. Well — I followed this little 

brook till it entered the river, and then took the path that leads 

along the bank. On the opposite side I observed several little 

3 



34 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



birds running along the shore, and making a piping noise. 
They were brown and white, and about as large as a snipe. 

M. I suppose they w^ere sand-pipers, one of the numerous 
family of birds that get their Hving by wading among the shal- 
lows, and picking up worms and insects. 

W. There were a great many swallows, too, sporting on the 
surface of the water, that entertained me with their motions. 
Sometimes they dashed into the stream ; sometimes they pur- 
sued one another so quick that the eye could scarcely follow 
them. In one place, where a high steep sand-bank rose directly 
over the river, I observed many of them go in and out of holes 
with which the bank was bored full. 

M. Those were sand-martins, the smallest of our species of 
swallows. They are of a mouse-color above and white beneath. 
They make their nests and bring up their young in these holes, 
which run a great depth, and by their situation are secure from 
all plunderers. 

W. A little further I saw a man in a boat, who was catch- 
ing eels in an odd way. He had a long pole with broad iron 
prongs at the end, just like Neptune's trident, only there were 
five instead of three. This he pushed straight down among the 
mud in the deepest parts of the river, and brought up the eels 
sticking between the prongs. 

M. I have seen this method. It is called spearing eels. 

W. While I was looking at him, a heron came flying over 
my head, with his large flagging wings. He lit at the next turn 
of the river, and I crept softly behind the bank to watch his 
motions. He had waded into the water as far as his long legs 
would carry him, and was standing with his neck drawn in, 
looking intently on the stream. Presently he darted his long 
bill as quick as lightning into the w^ater, and drew out a fish, 
which he swallowed. I saw him catch another in the same 
manner. He then took alarm at some noise I made, and flew 
away slowly to a wood at some distance, where he settled. 

M. Probably his nest was there, for herons build upon the 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



35 



loftiest trees they can find, and sometimes in society together, 
like rooks. Formerly, when these birds were valued for the 
amusement of hawking, many gentlemen had their heronries, 
and a few are still remaining. 

ir. I think they are the largest wild birds we have. 

M. They are of great length and spread of wing, but their 
bodies are comparatively small. 

W. I then turned homeward across the meadows, where I 
stopped awhile to look at a large flock of starlings which kept 
flying about at no great distance. I could not tell at first what 
to make of them; for they rose altogether from the ground as 
thick as a swarm of bees, and formed themselves into a kind of 
black cloud, hovering over the field. After taking a short 
round, they settled again, and presently rose again in the same 
manner. I dare say there were hundreds of them. 

J/. Perhaps so ; for in the fenny countries their flocks are so 
numerous, as to break down whole acres of reeds by settling 
on them. This disposition of starlings to fly in close swarms 
was remarked even by Homer, who compares the foe flying 
from one of his 'heroes, to a cloud of stares retiring dismayed 
at the approach of the hawk. 

W. After I had left the meadows I crossed the corn-fields in 
the way to our house, and passed close by a deep marl pit. 
Looking into it, I saw in one of the sides a cluster of what I 
took to be shells ; and upon going down, I picked up a clod of 
marl, which was quite full of them ; but how sea shells could 
get there, I cannot imagine. 

M. I do not wonder at your surprise, since many philoso- 
phers have been much perplexed to account for the same 
appearance. It is not uncommon to find great quantities of 
shells and relics of marine animals even in the depths of high 
mountains, very remote from the sea. They are certainly 
proofs that the earth was once in a very diff'erent state from 
what it is at present; but in what manner and how long ago 
the changes took place, can only be guessed at. 



36 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



W. I got to the high field next our house just as the sun 
was setting, and I stood looking at it till it was quite lost. 
What a glorious sight ! The clouds were tinged with pul-ple 
and crimson and yellow of all shades and hues, and the clear 
sky varied from blue to a fine green at the horizon. But how 
large the sun appears just as it sets! 1 think it seems twice 
as big as when it is overhead. 

M. It does appear so, and you probably have observed the 
same apparent enlargement of the moon at its rising. 

W. I have ; but pray what is the reason of this? 

M. It is an optical deception depending upon principles 
which I cannot well explain to you till you know more of that 
branch of science. But what a number of new ideas the after- 
noon's walk has afforded you ! I do not wonder that you found it 
amusing; it has been very instructive, too. Did you see 
nothing of all these sights, Robert ? 

R. I saw some of them, but I did not take particular notice 
of them. 

M. Why not? 

R. I don't know. I did not care about them, and made 
the best of my way home. 

M. That would have been right if you had been sent on a 
message ; but as you only walked for amusement, it would 
have been wiser to have sought out as many sources of it as 
possible. But so it is — one man walks through the world with 
his eyes open, and another with them shut; and upon this 
difference depends all the superiority of knowledge the one 
acquires above the other. I have known sailors who had been 
in all quarters of the world, and could tell you nothing but the 
signs of the tippling-houses they frequented in the different 
ports, and the price and the quality of the liquor. On the 
other hand, a Franklin could not cross the Channel without 
making some observations useful to mankind. While many a 
vacant, thoughtless youth is whirled throughout Europe with- 
out gaining a single idea worth crossing a street for, the observ- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 37 

ing eye and inquiring mind find matter for improvement and 
delight in every ramble in town or country. Do you then, 
William, continue to make use of your eyes; and you, Robert, 
learn that eyes were given you to use." 

1. Determine the scope of the term observation, used in the 
Pestalozzian sense. 

2. Consider critically the foregoing conversation as express- 
ing an instance of the habit and the power of observation. 

3. How can arithmetic be taught so that the tendency shall 
be to produce the habit exemplified in William? In Robert? 
The same inquiry in regard to geography, reading, etc. 

It may be claimed, hovs^ever, that the difference be- 
tween the pupils cited is not one of education but of in- 
heritance. But what would that mean other than this: 
that for generations back of William, his ancestors had 
been so trained in accurate habits of observation, that 
the habit was transmitted to him, just as his physical 
characteristics were. The mind of a pupil is, to a degree, 
an art product, representing in its peculiar nature, the 
education and training not only if its period of existence, 
but of many generations in the past. 

A child's mind, with its peculiar habits and powers is 
the joint product of the culture of its own brief time, 
and of congenital endowments resulting from the culture 
of its ancestry for ages back ; so the difference between 
two persons in respect of their power to observe and to 
enjoy because of that power, is, after all, the result, at 
least to a large degree, of education, conferred some- 
where along the line of life. 

In Smiles' Self Help, it is truthfully said, "It is the 
close observation of little things which is the secret of 



38 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



success in business, in art, in science, and in every pur- 
suit of life. Human knowledge is but an accumulation 
of small facts, made by successive generations of men, 
the little bits of knowledge and experience carefully 
treasured up by them growing at length into a mighty 
pyramid. Though many of these facts and observations 
seemed in the first instance to have but slight signifi- 
cance, they are all found to have their eventual uses, 
and to fit into their proper places." 

Arising from the inter-relations of all of the foregoing 
thoughts, several conclusions present themselves: 

Mind is the real subject of education ; the individual 
mind of each child; this individual mind in its two 
clearly marked stages of preparation and of use. 

The teacher, in order to become an artist, or even a fair 
mechanic, must study this plastic, living material. 

It may be studied in its general characteristics, as 
presented in books; or in a more individual sense, as 
embodied and manifesting itself in the teacher himself, 
and in each of his pupils. 

Even if the teacher is unable, on account of means or 
time, to study mental phenomena and laws in the first 
way, in the second sense they are ever present to the 
mental gaze. 

Even the unaided study of mental phenomena, as 
exhibited by his own mind and by those of the pupils, 
leads the teacher to many educational truths; among 
which are : 

The imagination, and spontaneous memory are active 
in early years. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



39 



The child does not learn by the logical faculty. 

The child is naturally inattentive ; the power of at- 
tention, is the result of education, not the condition; 
though embryo attention is the basis of all growth in 
mental power. 

The child has been trained away from his natural ten- 
dency to observe. 

The heart is the avenue to the intellect no less than 
is the intellect to the heart. 

The individual mind of the child is the true subject 
of the educational process ; the necessity for its study is 
absolute ; the opportunity for its study is ever present. — 
Such is the clue of Ariadne, and without it the teacher 
hopelessly gropes. 



-^^^^^^^^^7^^ 



^# 



^^^^^^^^^- 



m^ 



CHAPTER II, 



THE AIM OF EDUCATION. 



" What are a nation's possessions? The great words that have been said 
in it; the great deeds that have been done in it." 

A distinguished Chinese scholar who was travelling in the United States 
was asked what he considered to be the most prominent American trait. He 
quietly and promptly replied, "A lack of honor." 

" Conduct is three-fourths of life."— Matthew Arnold. 

" But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, 
who now began to apply this to himself. "Business!" cried the ghost, 
wringing its hands again. ' ' Mankind was my business. The common wel- 
fare was my business. Charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence, were, 
all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the 
comprehensive ocean of my business !"— Dickens' Christmas Carols. 

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 

—John, 8: 32. 



In order to adequately comprehend the purpose in 
education, one must understand, at least to a degree: 

1. The ideas : 

a. Final Cause. 

h. Rational Freedom. 

2. The judgments: 

a. Mind is a universal substrate, i.e., everything 
is, in essence, mind or thought. 

h. Man has in his single nature a dual power— 
instrumental-power and character-power, the latter consti- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 41 



tuting man as man, or feeling, in distinction from man 
as a machine, or intellect. 

c. Character-power is the higher element in man — 
the life. 

Whittier gives expression to this thought by saying 
in reference to Webster, 

When faith is lost, when honor dies, 
The man is dead!" 

d. Character-power is sensitive, retiring, in the 
presence of force, or alien feeling. 

The relative value of instruction and education ; of 
information and training ; of a preparation for business 
in a technical sense, and a preparation for business as 
defined by Marley's ghost; of intellectual-power and 
character-power, i.e., of brain-education and heart-educa- 
tion is, as indicated, to be comprehended through an 
insight into the foregoing ideas and judgments, to which 
the mind is now to address itself. 

FINAL CAUSE. 

As shown by Porter, causes have been divided into 
four classes : material, formal, efficient, and final. 

^Material causes are the material elements or princi- 
ples which compose any existence, whether the matter 
is bodily or spiritual. 

The cause termed formal is the property or proper- 
ties which constitute its essence, logical content, form. 
Thus used the cause is an element or constitutive prin- 
ciple. 



42 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Efficient causes are the working causes, or those agents 
which palpably bring about an effect. 

The final cause is the design which is conceived as 
impelling and directing the action of working causes, 
until the result appears, e. g. if one forms a purpose, 
the result, when made actual is the end of a series of 
actions or events. In this way the word end or final 
comes to mean a purposed result. Thus the final cause 
of a series of actions is the result of the series. The pur- 
pose is called a cause for the reason that it is conceived 
when formed as originating or setting in motion the 
series of acts or events necessary to its realization. 
Thus the final cause of a series of actions is the purpose 
or thought which gave rise to the series. On account of 
this double view the idea is termed a final cause, i. e., a 
cause which beginning as a thought works itself into a 
fact which is the end or result of the series of agencies 
set in motion because of the thought.' 

By Aristotle the material cause was termed the raw 
material, the underlying thing ; the formal cause, the 
true nature of the thing; the efficient cause, that whence 
the beginning of motion is ; the final cause, that on 
account of which a thing is. 

In Everett's Science of Thought it is said "Where a 
process is carried on by means of parts co-operating 
for their own mutual support, or for the promotion of a 
common end, this composition of parts is called an or- 
ganism and the end for which they co-operate is called a 
final cause. The cause, although it no longer exists as 
cause, is fulfilled in the effect. The end is more really 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 43 



the cause than the beginning, for, in the end, the cause 
finds first its real and complete existence. The end for 
which all the parts of an organism work together, termed 
the final cause, is really the cause of the organism. 
If one goes to a city his object in going is the cause of 
his movement rather than the locomotive that took him 
there. A seed is buried in the earth. The warmth 
and moisture make it sprout into life ; yet if it had not 
this tendency to life, this final cause embodied in itself, 
the sun and moisture would have been in vain. The 
final cause of the seed is to produce the plant. Its ex- 
istence is fulfilled in that. The final cause is the real 
cause. The great difficulty in regard to final causes is 
that they are always mingled with working or efficient 
causes. A final cause has no objective existence except 
in its result, and this result has been produced directly 
by efficient causes, while it — the final cause — has only 
been working invisibly behind and through these. In 
all actions that are the result of mind or intelligence, 
there must be final cause ; for intelligence is the acting 
for a final cause, and hence every intelligent act must 
have a final cause." In nature, in life, in history, in all 
organisms, in the school, in the recitation, in the study 
and behavior of the pupils, final cause is hidden and at 
work. It is the essence of the school, of the prepara- 
tion for school work, of the recitation, and of the whole 
subject of the children's actions, and of discipline. The 
real teacher always seeks for, and is able to recognize its 
presence. 

The aim of education in its limitation to the period of 



44 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

preparation — the period of family and school influence — 
is to assist the child toward the final cause of his exist- 
ence, not by giving him knowledge, but by sending him 
forth equipped with the desire and the power to attain 
knowledge. The aim of education in its full sense, i.e., 
through the instrumentalities of the family, church, bus- 
ness society and state — including both the period of pre- 
paration and that of use or action is to confer upon each 
individual truth-freedom, reason-freedom, rational-free- 
dom. The stages in the process are: 



1. Presentation of material for the mind's action. 

2. Action of the mind upon the material. 

3. Mental strength and skill, intellectual, emotion- 

al and volitional, arising from such action. 

4. A partial insight, arising fnpm the strength and 

skill, into that knowledge which is of most 
value. 

5. A desire to enter into possession of the knowl- 

edge thus opened to the mind. 

6. The acquiring of knowledge in the various 

spheres of life. 

7. The assimilation and employment of this knowl- 

edge. 

8. The perception of the truth, growing out of the 

two foregoing. 

9. The truth-freedom resulting — " Ye shall know the 

truth, and the truth shall make you free." 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 45 



RATIONAL OR TRUTH-FREEDOM. 

Freedom is, in essence, obedience. True freedom is 
obedience to natural law, whether physical or spiritual ; 
but all freedom, whether true or not, is obedience — obe- 
dience to something. 

Freedom is of two kinds, as is bondage — physical and 
spiritual. True physical freedom is that in which the 
body is, through a training into a condition of uncon- 
scious habit, of second nature, instantly, as occasion re- 
quires, obedient to all its physical laws. Real freedom 
requires that the obedience shall be unconscious, auto- 
matic. Spiritual freedom is likewise of two kinds : 

1. Caprice-freedom, or obedience to caprice, prejudice, 
ignorance, i.e., bondage. 

2. Rational freedom, or obedience to truth, to reason, 
to the feeling '' I ought." 

The first is the freedom of a Henry VIII, of an Eliza- 
beth, of a Trinculo and of a Caliban. In such freedom, 
which in truth is the veriest slavery, the baseness of the 
master makes the servant baser still, and Trinculo gives 
Caliban wine, and Caliban thinks him a god, and that 
he has entered into freedom. There is no hope of real 
advancement in such a state of things; rebellion against 
the true master is a necessary consequence ; he must be 
got rid of, or Trinculo and Caliban can not rule. 

It is a spectacle of caprice-freedom to see, in any 
phase of life, the Trinculos and Calibans conspiring 
against the true lord of the island — reason, truth, the 
" I ought." 



46 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Rational freedom is the habitual joint right action of 
the intellect, sensibility and will. The will in one sense 
is not free; in another sense it is absolutely free. It is 
not free in the sense that it can not avoid choosing. It 
is its very nature and essence, however, to choose ; and 
it fulfills the function of its being in choosing. The 
proper conditions being supplied, the will must, of 
necessity, choose. Yet it is free in that it has absolute 
power in its choosing. If its choice is in accordance 
with reason, it is rationally free. 

If the choosing of any given individual is habitually 
in accordance with the principles of justice, — each shall 
render an equivalent for that which he receives — uni- 
versal brotherhood — mutual love — he is a rationally free 
member of the social system. But each of these princi- 
ples is in essence love or kindness, and if one, in all 
circumstances, acts in obedience to this, the highest ele- 
ment of his emotional nature, — the one that links him 
most closely to the divine, — for God is in form or essence 
love — he is rationally free. 

The thought that all other principles have their root 
in this one — love or kindness — and that therefore, the 
nobler elements of man's emotional nature are really the 
man is clearly seen in this: 

" The night has a thousand eyes, 
The day but one ; 
So the light of the whole day dies 
At set of sun. 

The mind has a thousand eyes, 
The heart but one ; 
So the light of the whole life dies 
When love is done." 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 47 

The transcendent thought for the teacher is that when 
force, fear, or any ahen power has driven the child's 
higher nature into its inacessihle retreats, the eyes of 
the intellect are made less acute, just as the stars — the 
eyes of the night — would lose their silvery luster if the 
sun were no more. 

The aim of education, then, is heart-education. It is 
habitual obedience to the higher elements of man's 
emotional nature; obedience to the 'ought.' 

The first recorded instance of caprice-freedom, was 
the choosing of knowledge by the first man, in the Gar- 
den of Eden. This following of the 'I w^ant' instead of 
the 'I ought' — the exaltation of knowledge and intel- 
lectual power over obedience to the principle of love — 
constituted the Fall of Man. In like manner the exalt- 
ation of dogmatism and verbalism over the essence 
and reality of things constituted the fall of education, 
and demanded and required in the fourteenth century 
' The Revival of Letters.' And just as Henry V. 
thought the defection of Lord Scroop to be like unto a 
second fall of man, so by many it is held that there has 
been a second fall of education, since in its period of 
preparation — the period of the family and the school, 
especially the latter — it seems to exalt mere form, 
words, definitions, — a hardened crust of verbalism — over 
the reality, the thought; since it seems to make, as the 
end of the school, preparation for business in the sense 
in which Scrooge used the term, rather than that in which 
the Gh ost used it ; since the goal appears to be facts, knowl- 
edge, percents, or at best intellectual power, rather than 



48 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

habitual obedience to the higher emotional nature — 
character-power. If intellectual power were the true 
aim of education, there could be but slight objection to 
Mephistopheles, or to Faust in his early career. The 
real aim of education is to restore man by dethroning 
intellectual power and knowledge, and by enthroning 
man's real being — his emotional and volitional powers. 
The true end is to relegate facts to their proper sphere — 
that of mere materials and intellect to its proper sta- 
tion that of a servant or instrument — the highest instru- 
ment it is true — and to make character-power, the power 
of -'having withstood all, to stand," the goal. The final 
cause of education, then, is rational freedom. 

Rational freedom unites the powers of habit, intelli- 
gence and sensibility. Taken singly, the cultivation of 
neither of these powers gives rational freedom. The 
exclusive development of either one leads from it. Thus 
intellectual power is not rational freedom though it is 
involved in it. The keenest intellectual power, as above 
indicated, may exist side by side with caprice. The cul- 
tivation of the mere intellect may lead one to think 
that that is the one thing needful, and that his actions 
are not concerned, and that therefore, their character is 
a thing indifferent; this forms the habit of not obey- 
ing what he knows to be the truth, hence he is not 
truth-free. 

The training of the will alone is not rational freedom, 
though that is in it. Habit, without knowledge and 
conscious motive, is the characteristic, not of a rational 
being, but of a machine ; acts performed under its in- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 49 



fluence have no moral character, whether their results 
are in accordance with morality or not. This seeming 
habit of morality cannot be permanent and sufficient. 
The routine conduct to which it leads may endure for a 
while, as long as circumstances do not interfere with 
obedience to the habit ; but it will never stand against 
the rush of personal prejudices and interests, when these 
clamor, as they inevitably will, for a hearing. There is 
wanted intelligence to give such acts a moral character, 
and motive to secure their performance against all op- 
posing tendencies. The sensibilities alone will not give 
rational freedom. Apart from habit, the performance 
of actions must always be difficult, and uncertain ; 
while there is also needed the intelligence to prevent 
good motives from being blind guides. 
The process in rational freedom is : 

1. The perception of that which is fit or right in 
human action.' (Intellect). 

2. The arising of the feeling 'I ought.' (Feeling). 

3. The determination to obey the feeling ' I ought.' 
(Will). 

4. I he resulting action, mental or physical. (Prac- 
tical). 

This is obedience to the true self, hence it is freedom. 
True obedience to another person or to an institution of 
which one is a member, is choosing the same end as that 
other person, or as the institution. Such obedience is 
freedom. No one can be forced to act in a certain way, 
or to choose a given purpose ; each one chooses his own 
purpose; hence, the third point indicated above is the 

4 



50 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

element of freedom. Every one has freedom, in the 
sense that he is free to make either the choice that he 
does or some other one. The free spirit cannot be en- 
chained. Man acts in freedom. If he obeys the 'ought' 
he acts rationally, and hence has rational freedom. 

" Rational freedom " is that state in which one is when 
he does right, or acts in obedience to the 'ought'; for 
this alone is the dictate of the reason. In this state the 
intellect discerns the true, the. sensibility feels the beau- 
tiful, and the will chooses the good ; hence, there is a 
blending of the true, the beautiful, and the good, in the 
character." Character-power of this kind is the true aim 
of education. That is, the aim and scope of that civil- 
izing process through which the child passes in his con- 
tact with the family, school, church, business society, 
and state, is the attainment of rational freedom. But 
the very term /reec^om, in this connection, presupposes a 
previous bondage. Bondage to what? In the conversa- 
tion of the descendants of Abraham with Christ, they 
referred it to the 'physical power of the ruling body. In 
that conversation, they, however, catch a gleam of a new 
doctrine — that imperfect humanity is in bondage to 
itself, to its own belief, ignorance, and prejudice. 

The true aim and effect of the social system — family, 
school, church, business society and state — is the deliv- 
erance from that bondage. This is the removal of the 
antithesis that exists between the objective and the sub- 
jective, by merging the external to any one into his 
subjective. In the lower stages of civilization the moral 
and political restrictions of the family, school, church, 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 51 



business, and state, are looked upon as objectively de- 
termined ; the social system being viewed as something 
into which one is born, but which is subjectively differ- 
ent from that one. In such a state " the individual feels 
himself bound to comply with requirements of whose 
justice or propriety he is not allowed to judge, though 
they often severely test his endurance, and even demand 
the sacrifice of his life." In a state of higher civiliza- 
tion, though an equal sacrifice be demanded, the indi- 
vidual feels that the institutions are just and desirable, 
and that the laws and restrictions are at one with his 
own subjective nature, and such as his own rational 
choosing would have produced. This is the harmoniza- 
tion of the objective and the subjective. The true aim 
of education in the stage of preparation is to harmonize 
the subjective of each individual in the family and the 
school with the objective, in order to fit him for a like 
harmony in the church, business, and state. This would 
remove, among other things, the ground for the Chinese 
traveller's statement. 

MIND A UNIVERSAL SUBSTRATE. 

The first part of the word nature — na^— is the same as 
the first part of the word iiatal and native, and means 
born. The last part, ure, is from the Latin ura, meaning 
to be or necessary to be. In its original sense, therefore, 
the word nature signifies that which is to be born. 

That is, nature is in essence, energy, and that which 
outwardly appears is merely a manifestation, the sub- 



52 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

stratum of which is life, spirit, mind. But mind is an 
energy of three-fold variety — intellect, sensibility and 
will. Nature, then is at heart, intellect, sensibility and 
will, and for a human being to comprehend nature in 
whole or in part, is for him to transmute it into thought- 
The true standpoint is that whatever God has put forth 
in audible or visible form is in truth God himself to a 
degree, and for an individual to comprehend, to reaUy 
know any such form means that the intellect, sensibility, 
and will of God, which to a degree lies concealed in it, 
is to come forth and touch the mind of the learner, and 
coalesce with it, and in a manner lift the mind of the 
learner up to itself. 

This passing of the divine life into the human life is 
the education that nature affords. God thought a 
thought, and made that thought manifest in visible 
form. That visible form is called North America. 
What, then, in reality is North America but thought — a 
thought of God? What is the lily of the valley but the 
life of the Divine Being made manifest to a degree? 
Such, also, is each bird of the air, and beast of the field. 
Christ, while on earth, was God manifest in the flesh; 
in like manner He has manifested Himself in the 
visible forms of nature. Nature is in essence a thought 
of God. Hence the meaning — about to be born; for the 
mind of God, which, to a degree, is ensconced in every 
form of nature, is about to come forth and touch the 
mind of the true learner, and transform it. But to 
whom does it come forth ? Only to the one who has 
the power to break the spell. Only to the true prince — 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 53 



the one whose spirit is in harmony with the life, the 
thought concealed. 

The child himself is a thought of God. Each human 
being is the intellect, sensibility, and will of G-od 
shadowed forth imperfectly and faintly. In order then 
that the teacher may assist in the education of the child, 
he must be able to think the child, i. e. to comprehend 
the life, the embodied mind to that degree which will 
■ enable him to call forth the mind of the child and cause 
it to touch the thought that lies hidden in his own (the 
teacher's) expressions, and in the object of study; 
for example, the llama, or the heliotrope. But to whom 
does the child-mind thus come forth ? Only to the true 
prince, the one whose spirit is in harmony with it, and 
who has therefore, the power to reach it in its other- 
wise inaccessible retreats. 

Again, art is the intellect, sensibility and will of man, 
manifest in merely another form ; poetry, prose, paint- 
ing, architecture, music, sculpture, and all done by man, 
are embodiments of certain portions of man's Hfe set in 
action. Whenever a man does anything, he puts forth 
a part of himself, of his mind, and if it is understood 
it must be re-transmuted into that. 

And these mind-creations are naturally subject to the 
same conditions as the life of which they are the out- 
come, and, as far as they go, represent it as faithfully as 
if they were separate living beings. Spiritually there is 
one Bartholdi; externally there are two (really many)— 
one full-orbed, in which the life or mind is most free, 
most self-determining, lives, moves and has its being in 



54 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Paris ; the other partial, in majestic iron and copper 
stands on Bedloe's Island and is called Liberty Enlight- 
ening the World. 

The one who is to really know the Bartholdi statue 
mast transmute it into thought. If the learner is of 
kindred spirit, the three-fold mind of the artist that is 
embodied in the statue will touch his mind and it will 
be as it was no more, for at the touch of kindred spirit 
the inventive genius that lies bidden in the statue will 
awake and live again in the life of the learner, and to 
some extent, depending upon his native endowments, 
he is evermore a Bartholdi. So everything that divine 
or human artist has produced, a chair, a pencil, a table, 
a house, the wren, the rose, Mount Blanc, Evangeline 
or Hamlet — is in its reality mind or thought, and if thus 
thought and reached, becomes a living crucible, an edu- 
cating force. But otherwise it is a mere dead form. 

Everett says, "When it is said that all being is ob- 
jective thought, it is meant that all being exists to the 
infinite mind as thought, and that all being may exist 
to any mind as thought, so far as that mind is develop- 
ed enough to grasp it; the limit' in every case being not 
the nature of the outward object, but the capacity of 
the mind itself." 

All being is animate with enchanted life for all who 
have the power to break the spell. 

The true aim of education is to assist the child to the 
power of viewing all being as thought; of reading the 
high and varied emotions of noble minds, and thereby 
kindling high and varied power in himself. For then 
only is he educated. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 55 

INSTRUMENTAL AND CHARACTER-POWER. 

In the Louvre, at Paris, is a renowned statue of a 
slave. The attitude and proportions proclaim the artist, 
and the resignation and intelligence depicted in the face 
are striking. Yet all who have beheld it and studied it 
agree that the finest touch (it being the statue of a 
slave) is the absence from the face and bearing of that 
finer, subtler something which always indicates the real 
man. It stands there the embodiment of a perfect ani- 
mated machine. Mechanical power of a high order is 
evident in it, but it is clear that the lash, or the will of 
the master, has driven into exile those higher feelings 
which constitute the real being, and which always enter 
into man's true work. It is an illustration of a hard 
mechanic power of mind and body when the real being 
has retired at tlie presence of alien feeling, or compuls- 
ive force. 

There lies within every child and in every work of 
man, in addition to its mechanical side, a finer nature 
which is the true being, and which, viewed as power, 
may be called character-power. The mechanical side 
exists for this and may therefore be termed instrumental 
power. In education, the character element in the child, 
or in man's work, must be reached. But the slave owner 
might as well try to call forth the finer nature with his 
lash as for the mere intellect to expect to win its way by 
force into the heart of visible thought. 

' Both deal, and deal successfully, if strong enough, 
with the husk, the mere mechanical side of that which 
they approach; both fail, if not strong, even in that; 



56 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

and both stand forever outside the walls of the home in 
which true power and beauty dwell. Education is not 
concerned with the external except as an instrument, 
as an end it is concerned with the life, the character- 
power. Should this be granted, it becomes clear that 
all work which deals with the externals, as, words and 
their pronunciation in reading, rules, definitions, and 
technical terms in language; figures and rules for manip- 
ulating them, in number, fails to fulfill the demands of 
higher training ; and, also, that all hard, unfeeling, irrev- 
erent temper, unfits both the teacher and the pupil, 
however strong in intellect they may be, for the higher 
ranges of power, which can only be attained by giving 
and taking the thrill of true feeling, and by an endeavor 
to enter into communion with each other and with the 
life embodied in the thing studied.' This conception 
of power as two-fold, — mechanical power and living 
power, manifestations of the child's being, both contain- 
ed always in greater or less degree, balanced or un- 
balanced within him, establishes the first principle of 
true education. It forms the basis of educational sci- 
ence. One consequence appears at once, — that child- 
life can only be trained to its highest perfection by con- 
tact with life and thought, or by processes of life ; and 
hence, however useful or necessary certain forms of skill, 
and certain branches of knowledge are, they do not be- 
long to the teaching and training of the higher life, 
because of the absence of the very elements of the 
higher life in them. 

Test the common school branches by this thought. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 57 

"The aim of education is not to prepare for life in any 
technical sense, but to raise the standard of life itself" 
Locally it is to remove the ground for the CInnese trav- 
eller's answer. The necessity for the removal is evidenced 
in that the press of the country recently set forth as 
remarkable the fact that a business man having failed 
some years since, and having paid at the time fifty cents 
on the dollar, had just completed the payment in full, 
though not compelled by law to do so. In the record, 
moreover, the press unconsciously gave testimony to the 
popular sentiment that such payment was optional, and 
therefore notably honorable. But it was not optional — 
man's higher nature compelling it, the man simply per- 
forming his bounden duty in compliance with the plain 
business principle — "Every one shall render an equiva- 
lent for that which he receives." 

Bodily strength is a very great power but to live for 
the body only is to be a mere animal. Intellectual 
strength, also, is a very great power, but to .live for the 
intellect only is to be a Mephistopheles. 

Both these powers are necessary and must be cultiva- 
ed, but as instruments, not as supreme. However much 
the intellect may have usurped the throne, it may 
nevertheless be united with the most destructive, or the 
meanest qualities. Intellectual power has no necessary 
connection with good. 

There is an adage that "Whatever you would put into 
the life of a nation, you must first put into the schools." 

The experiment is yet to be faithfully tried in the 
schools, whether they can so train to true life as to keep 



58 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

the nation from falling, and maintain it in its true rank; 
whether by their work they can insure that the nation 
shall seek after true life, rather than mere knowledge 
and material prosperity; that it shall rightly use the two 
servants of the real being — bodily and intellectual 
strength. 

The danger to the nation is correctly foreshadowed in 
"The Message of the Nineteenth Century to the Twen- 
tieth" by Ex-President White of Cornell. 

It is self-evident that any truth belonging to man as 
man, must belong to every individual, and that no truth 
belongs to man as man that is limited to a small num- 
ber. This must hold good whether by truth is meant 
means or end. The universal is synonomous with truth 
pertaining to man, and man's nature. All men must 
be able to attain the end of existence, if there is an end 
of existence for man ; that is, the end must be universal. 
All pupils must be able to reach the aim of school edu- 
cation if, as is held, there is a universal aim. Extensive 
knowledge can never be the possession of every individ- 
ual; excellent power of doing skilled work, and true 
feeling as a motive power, can. The nature of things 
makes the extremes of perfect training, and of produci- 
ble knowledge, to a certain degree antagonistic; i. e., the 
time spent in questioning with a view to train, can not 
be employed in pouring in knowledge with a view to 
turn it out again on demand. The importance of this 
distinction is not seen, however, in the best pupils. They 
succeed to a creditable degree under either system. 
What results to the average, or to the poor pupil, is the 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 59 



real question. With them, the vain attempt to get a 
certain amount of knowledge results in emptiness, and 
a stolid unbelief in education. The attempt to get train- 
ing results in the native strength being improved, as far 
as it is capable of improvement, and in as much skill 
being acquired as the case admits of. Tlie first ends in 
a diseased state of mind; the second in a healtliy condi- 
tion however weak it may be. 

The true aim of education, especially during the 
period of pre})aration, is therefore two-fold: 

1. To train the character-power; that is, "to set the 
loving and the hating on the right track." 

2. To train the intellect (subordinate) and the body 
(more subordinate); i.e., the instrumental powers. 

The relation of the intellect and the character-power is: 

1. Oppositional, in that the highest intellectual 
activity at any given moment, excludes the highest 
emotional activity at that given moment, and vice versa, 
in accordance with the principle that the mind has but 
a given quantum of energy. 

2. Supplementary : 

a. Whatever increases one's knowledge of things 
as they are, leads to an appreciation of truth. 

b. Increase of mental power increases the power 
to judge on moral questions. 

c. When the will, affections and conscience are 
cultivated with a view to independent action, the intel- 
lect must be cultivated so as to impose proper limits 
upon that independence. 



60 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

d. In proportion as the intellect is cultivated, the 
sensibiUties and will — the real being — must be trained 
to carry its judgments into effect. 

The truth of "c" and "d," as given at the beginning 
of the chapter, is made evident in the consideration of 
instrumental and character-power. 

Consider the aim of education as above presented, in the 
light of the following, and weigh these by that : 

" Man is the last, the most complete, and the most excellent 
of living creatures. 

The final end of man lies beyond this life. This life is three- 
fold, viz : Vegetative, Animai, and Intellectual or Spiritual. 
The first nowhere manifests itself outside the body ; the second 
stretches forth to objects through the operations of the senses ; 
the third is able to exist separately as well as in the body, as in 
the case of angels. 

This life is only a preparation for an eternal life. The visible 
world is only a seed plot, a boarding-house and training-school 
for man. 

There are three steps of preparation for Eternity. * Se, et 
secum omnia, nosse; regere ; et ad Deum dirigere' 

It is accordingly required of man that — 
He should know all things. 

He should have power over all things, and over himself. 
He should refer himself and all things to God the Source 
of All. 

These requirements are summed up in the words Eruditio, 
Virtus seu Mores Honesti, Religio, seu Pietas, — Knowledge, Virtue 
and Piety. All else is merely accidental and extrinsic. 

The seeds of these three are in us by Nature, i.e., our first 
original and fundamental nature, to which we are to be recalled 
by God in Christ. 

It is as certain that man has been born fit for the understand- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 61 



ing of things, the harmony of morals, and the love of God, as 
that there are roots to a tree."— Comenius. 

" In the natural order of things, all men being equal, the 
vocation common to all is the state of manhood, and whoever 
is well trained for that, cannot fulfill badly any vocation which 
depends upon it. Whether my pupil be destined for the army, 
the church, or the bar, matters little to me. Before he can 
think of adopting the vocation of his parents, nature calls upon 
him to be a man. How to live is the business I wish to teach 
him. On leaving my hands he will not, I admit, be a magis- 
trate, a soldier, or a priest; first of all he will be a man. All 
that a man ought to be, he can be, at need, as well as anyone 
else can. Fortune will in vain alter his position, for he will 
always occupy his own." — Rousseau. 

" Elementary education, in his view, means, not definite in- 
struction in special subjects, but the eliciting of the powers of 
the child as preparative to definite instruction, — it means that 
course of cultivation which the mind of every child ought to 
go through, in order to secure the all-sided development of its 
powers." — Payne'^s Pestalozzi. 

"Education has for its chief object moral culture, the forma- 
tion of character; and for this end it is above all necessary 
that there should be freedom of individual movement, room 
for the development of personality." — Froebel. 

"What the education is that will best enable a man to edu- 
cate himself, ought surely to be the paramount inquiry. Is it 
Instruction, or is it Training, or is it both ? 

Is it the amount of elementary knowledge communicated, or 
is it that exercise of mind by which the pupil acquires the 
power of educating himself? Till within the last few years, the 
term used to define Education w^as Instruction. Give ele- 
mentary and religious instruction, it was and is still said, and 
this will be sufficient. Teach the poor to read the Bible, and 
forthwith you will make them good, holy, and happy citizens — 



62 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 



kind parents, obedient children, compassionate and honorable 
in their dealings; and crime will diminish. Hundreds of 
thousands of our population have received such an education. 
Are such the results ? Have our political advocates for educat- 
ing the poor— has the public hit upon the right kind of educa- 
tion, or upon the proper mode of communication f Can teaching or 
instruction alone produce the results which are so fondly 
anticipated ? 

Can all the idling, or teaching, or instruction in the world 
enable a man to make a shoe, construct an engine, ride, write, 
or paint, without training, that is, without doing? Can the 
mere head-knowledge of religious truths make a man good with- 
out the practice of it, without the training of the affections and 
moral habits? Will teaching to read, write and cast accounts, 
with a little knowledge of geography and grammar, cultivate 
the chWd— the ivhole man f 

Is this process of mere head-knowledge likely to uproot self- 
ishness, pride and vanity, and to substitute in their stead, kind- 
ness, generosity, humility, forbearance and courteousness, 
without the practice being enforced in suitable circumstances, 
as well as the theory communicated? The boy may repeat 
most correctly, and even understand in a general way, the pre- 
cepts, 'Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto 
wrath,' 'Render not evil for evil,' 'Be courteous ;' but see him 
at i>lay among his companions, neither better, nor perhaps 
worse, than himself, unsuperintended, and his conduct un- 
reviewed by parent or schoolmaster, and what do these scrip- 
tural injunctions avail him when engaged in a quarrel ? Reason 
is dormant, passion reigns for the time and the repeated exer- 
cise of such propensities strengthens the disposition, and 
eventually forms evil habits^ — Stow. 

" Education comprises all the influences which go to form 
the character. In early infancy, before the child has acquired 
the power over thought and language which fits him for direct 
intercourse with those around him, he is educated by the expe- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOI . 63 

rience which he acquires throimh the natural activity of his 
instincts. 

In childhood and youth his education proceeds under the 
superintendence of the family circle and the school. In mature 
years he is again thrown upon the resources of self-education, 
but now with the power of controlling these for definite ends; 
and he finds in the intercourse of society, in his own reading 
and reflection, and in the ministrations of the Christian church, 
the means by which his nature is to reach its destined measure 
of perfection. The education of childhood is often spoken of 
as if it were pre-eminently the education of the whole man. It 
is not so, however; the education which the man carries on of 
himself in maturity, when he has come into the possession of 
all his powers, is that which determines his character and 
position. The peculiar importance of the education of child- 
hood lies in the consideration that it prepares the way for the 
subsequent self-education of manhood. It brings the man into 
command of his faculties, and enables him to use his oppor- 
tunities of progress; it equips him with intellectual, moral and 
practical principles, but for which he would pass through life 
without any purj^ose of self-improvement, and without the 
power of profiting by its experience." — Currie. 

•' The aim of the educationalist is not the giving of informa- 
tion, nay, not even instruction, though this is essential, but 
mainly discipline ; and the aim of discipline is the production 
of a sound mind in a sound body, the directing and cherishing 
of the growth of the whole nature, spiritual and physical, so as 
to make it possible for each man within the limits of the 
capacity which God has given him, to realize in and for him- 
self, with more or less success, the type of humanity, and in 
his relation to others to exhibit a capability for wise and vigorous 
action. This result would not be attained by pressure. By 
anticipating the slow but sure growth of nature, we destroy the 
organism. Many and subtle are the ways in which nature 
avenges itself on the delicate, complicated machinery of man, 
but avenge itself somehow it will and must." — Laurie. 



64 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



" The true view of education is to regard it as a course of 
training. The youth in a gymnasium practices upon the hori- 
zontal bar in order to develop his muscular powers generally ; 
he does not intend to go on posturing upon horizontal bars all 
through life. School is a place where the mental fibres are to 
be exercised, trained, expanded, developed and strengthened. 
* * It is the very purpose of a liberal education, as it is correct- 
ly called, to develoj) and train the plastic fibres of the youthful 
brain so as to prevent them from taking too early a definite 'set,' 
which will afterward narrow and restrict the range of acquisition 
and judgment. I will even go so far as to say that it is hardly 
desirable for the- actual things taught at school to stay in the 
mind for life. The source of error is the failure to distinguish 
between form and the matter of knowledge ; between the facts 
themselves and the manner in which the mental powers deal 
with facts. ^ '■ * * It is the purpose of education so to 

exercise the faculties of mind that the infinitely various expe- 
riences of after-life may be observed and reasoned upon to the 
best effect." — Jevons. 

" The conclusions of the honest and intelligent enquirer after 
the truth in this matter, will be something like the following: — 
That education (from c and duco, to lead forth) is development; 
that it is not instruction merely — knowledge, facts, rules — com- 
municated by the teacher, but it is a discipline, it is a waking 
up of the mind, — growth by a healthy assimilation of whole- 
some aliment. It is an inspiring of the mind with a thirst for 
knowledge, growth, enlargement, — and then a disciplining of 
its powers so far that it can go on to educate it?elf. It is the 
arousmg of the child's mind to think, without thinking for it 5 
it is the awakening of its powers to observe, to remember, to 
reflect, to combine. It is not a cultivation of the memory to 
the neglect of everything else; but it is a calling forth of all the 
faculties into harmonious action. If to possess facts simply is 
education, then an encyclopaedia is better educated than a man." 
—Page. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 65 



"The central thought of my doctrine assumes that the ulti- 
mate or total object of the teacher's profession is not the com- 
munication of knowledge; or even, according to the favorite 
modern formula, the stimulating of the kvmving faculty, if by the 
knowing faculty we understand a faculty quite distinguished and 
separate from the believing faculty, the sensibility, and the 
will. It has been generally admitted, for a long time, that ed- 
ucation does not consist in inserting facts in the pupil's memory, 
like specimens in a cabinet, or freight stowed in the hold of a 
ship. But not only must we dismiss those mechanical resem- 
blances that liken the mind to a store-room, a museum or a 
library ; we must also carry our conception of learning above 
the notion of an agile and adroit brain. Education does not 
consist in provoking bare intellectual dexterity, any more than 
in presenting ascertained truth to the intellectual perceptions ; 
or in both together. Education involves appeals to faith, to 
feeling, to volition. The realm of positive science shades off 
on every side— not by abrupt transitions, but by imperceptible 
gradations— into the realm of trust ; nor does science consult 
her dignity more than her modesty, when she undertakes to 
sharpen the partition-line of hostility between knowledge and 
belief. 

So does the true meaning of the mind involve an engagement 
of the aflfections, including taste, or the sense of beauty, and 
love, or the sense of good, both the mind's freedom and its 
harmony being dependent on a healthy heart. And so, again, 
the understanding and the feelings wait on that brave executor, 
the will ; and nobody can be wise who leaves its scholarship 
neglected." — Huntington. 



-^'^^^^^T^^ 




CHAPTER 



THE PRINCIPLE AND THE CONDITION OF 
EDUCATION. 



" I LEARNED early in life that my business was to grow." 

Margaret Fuller. 

" Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can 
such a one is a friend." Emerson. 



Not every one is able to attain a great amount of 
knowledge ; but every one is capable of growth. Growth 
is the fundamental principle of education, and its con- 
dition is EXERCISE. Activity, or exercise, is the law of 
development, either mental or physical; and each of 
these two kinds has its reflex influence upon the other. 
" Learn to do by doing," is the practical expression of 
this thought. Comenius says, ^^Lei things that have to be 
done, be learned by doing them. 

Mechanics and artists do not teach their apprentices 
by disquisitions, but by giving them something to do. 
They are taught to make anything by making it, to paint 
by painting, to dance by dancing, etc. So we should 
teach to write by writing, to read by reading, to sing by 
singing, to reason by reasoning, etc." 

The several elements of the child's nature grow by 
exercise suitable in kind and amount. By physical exer- 
cise the body is invigorated and developed, and by no 
other conceivable means. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 67 

By the exercise of its several fticulties, likewise, does 
the n:iind attain its power to use them. No faculty can 
interchange with any other. The faculty of language is 
developed by speaking; of observation, by observing: of 
imagination, by imagining; and of reason by reasoning. 
If but one is exercised, but one is educated ; if one is 
over-exercised, the excess does not flow over to the bene- 
fit of another. 

The moral powers, also, require their own appropriate 
exercise. Morality being a quality of actions, it is by 
regulation of the conduct according to its laws that 
morality is inculcated. Intelligence does not secure it. 
If the pupil is to be educated to the truth, he must be 
led to act and to speak the truth ; to honesty, he must 
be led to act honestly in cases where his honesty is 
tried; to diligence, he must be caused to apply himself 
to strenuous work. 

Observation has made it plain that themind's faculties 
grow by exercise, but this has been thought to be 
peculiarly true of thought and attention, which are ener- 
gies of the loill. Education is a growth, a habit. Hence 
no one can be said to know how to command his facul- 
ties who has not the habit of it. This state is attained 
only by those who exert their faculties to the maximum 
degrees, so that this state becomes habitual. Mere 
theory will never produce these habits. All teaching of 
pupils how to study, which does not demand of them 
their maximum efforts in practice, is ineffective. " The 
arm of the smith does not grow strong by his looking at 
the hammer, but by his wielding it." Intellectual 



68 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

growth comes not by thinking how to study, but by 
mental application in studying up to the measure of the 
highest degrees. 

In the application of these thoughts to education it 
is necessary to advert to the reflex influence which in 
any given psychological process runs back from action 
to its source. Action, in satisfying a desire, in gratify- 
ing an interest, in expressing an emotion, by a reflex 
influence strengthens, purifies, idealizes these forms of 
feeling, and through them their corresponding forms in 
thought. Hence, action is a most powerful instrument 
in education for quickening all forms of thought- 
growth. 

Through action, the subjective becomes objective; the 
inner assumes an outer existence, in terms of the outer. 
Thus an opportunity is afl'orded for testing the correct- 
ness of the inner conceptions, with reference to their 
outer counterparts, by comparison. The contrast be- 
tween the original outer counterpart, and the outer 
reproduction of the conception appears as inaccuracies, 
deficiencies, exaggerations, etc., that require correction. 
Thus Older action pushes conception (subjective action) 
steadily and surely nearer to objective truth. 

In the case of the will, action appears as conduct, 
which as practice, exerts a powerful reflex influence in 
fixing the will into habit, and establishing the character. 

The primary conditions, then, under which psycho- 
logical growth occurs, are : first, an active external, capa- 
ble of making impressions; second, an active internal, 
capable of receiving these impressions, and of controlling 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 69 

the external for subjective needs. Hence, the work of 
education is to adjust surroundings with reference to the 
subjective needs, so as to call forth appropriate activity 
on the part of the pupil. 

It is evident, therefore, that the doing, in the educa- 
tional process, is of two kinds : 

1. Mental. (Thinking, feeling, willing). 

2. Manual. (^Preceded, accompanied and followed 
by mental doing). 

Under the first, it has been said that "the great mis- 
take of education is the attempt to learn to do one thing 
by doing something else." 

If reading is the association of thought with expres- 
sion, the pupil can not learn to associate thought and 
expression by dealing with the pronunciation of words. 

If arithmetic is "the limitation of things by ones," the 
child can not learn to do this by studying figures ; and 
likewise in regard to the other subjects. 

The manner in which outward action may press sub- 
jective action, i.e., conceptions, nearer to objective truth, 
appears to a degree from the following : 

LIQUID MEASURE. 

•The teacher should be furnished with gill, pint, 
quart and gallon measures, also a box of sand, or some 
water. The children may be asked to name some 
measure they know, and to point it out; with that for a 
starting-point, proceed to other measures. If a quart is 
first selected, let another child find another measure, and 



70 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

tell, if he knows, what it is. Then let him find out for 
himself, by measuring the sand or water, how many of 
one are the other. If a gallon is next selected, let some 
one see how many times he can fill the quart and pour 
into the gallon, the children watching and counting. Pro- 
ceed in a similar manner with the other measures. Ask 
what articles are measured with these measures. Who 
use them. Have the children buy and sell quantities of 
that which is measured by liquid measure.' 

CURVED LINES. 

' Provide the children with short pieces of stiff, yet 
pliable wire. Ask them to bend the wire into difi'erent 
positions. Have them make similar lines on the board. 
Try to have them make all the positions themselves — 
curved, crooked, broken, waved, spiral, circle, and semi- 
circle. If they do not do so readily, direct their atten- 
tion to objects that contain them. Show a ring, arcli, 
spring, draw a spider's web, waves, etc. Refer to straight 
parallel lines, and then have them make with the wire, 
and then draw parallel curved lines.' 

FORM, (with clay). 

' Have each pupil furnished with a small piece of 
board, and a piece of moistened clay. Have the ball or 
sphere made first. What kind of surface has it ? How 
many hemispheres can be made of it? What part of a 
sphere is a hemisphere? How many halves in a sphere? 
In an apple? In anything? How many faces has it? 
What kind? What edges? Let them place the two 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 71 



halves together, then press it, and make an oblate- 
spheroid; then make it round again, and taper one end 
for an ovate-spheroid. Return again to the sphere, and 
cut off each side for a cube. Review the shape as to 
faces, edges and corners. Roll it out for a cyUnder, cut 
off the sides for a square prism ; cut in two for a triangu- 
lar prism. Then form pyramids, cones, etc. 

Let them make the shapes of different kinds of fruit, 
using little sticks for stems ; for strawberries they could 
make little indentures with pins for the seeds. Have a 
talk about each kind of fruit, and when practicable pre- 
s.ent the real fruit. 

Have a lesson on the bird's nest, and let them mold it 
in clay, make the eggs, and place them in the nest. Let 
them give the names of and talk about little birds that 
they know^ 

A great variety of objects can be made and a little les- 
son on each given. The children may also exercise 
their own ingenuity and devise many new forms. 

(form, with PAPER.) 

'Let each child be given some short, narrow pieces of 
colored paper and cards, or small pieces of paste-board 
or box-covers, the size of cards. Dissolve five cents 
worth of gum tragacanth in a bowl of water, and pour 
into small butter-plates, placing one plate for the use of 
two or three children. 

The children may paste the papers on their cards, 
using all the positions of straight lines, angles, and 
figures enclosed with straight lines which they have 



72 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 



learned. The teacher may have these previously drawn 
upon the board for children to copy. 

As it will take many days for them to finish their 
sets, they may have small rubber bands to slip over 
their cards ; the top card may have the name of the 
pupil written upon it, so that each child may get his 
own package each time. When a set is completed it 
may be laid aside for review, and at the close of the 
term given to the child. 

When the children become expert in this work, they 
may be furnished with muslin scrap-books, which may 
be when filled, laid aside for exhibition.' 

GEOGRAPHY, (THIRD YEAR.) 

"Have a board 4x5 feet made, with a rim around the 
edge an inch high. Upon this board, which should be 
adjusted to a table or desk, put half a bushel of mould- 
ing sand, such as may be had from a foundry, or if this 
is impracticable, a half bushel of moist loam, sifted, 
will answer the purpose well. With the use of blocks, 
toy-houses, trees, animals, large and small pieces of look- 
ing-glass, green tissue paper, narrow blue ribbon or tape, 
small twigs for evergreen trees, shells, and stones, the 
principal definitions in geography may be practically 
and impressively taught. 

When the class is small, it is best to have all of them 
gather around the moulding board ; but where the class 
is large, a part may gather round the board, while the 
others observe and suggest. The teacher should be care- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 73 



ful to give every pupil his proportion of time at the 
moulding board. 

Sea Shore. — Place a large piece of looking-glass on one 
side of the moulding board, and fill the rest with sand. 

Tell the children you Avill have a talk witli them 
about the earth or world in which they live. 

On what do ships sail? On what are houses built? 
What two things are found on the earth ? What have 
we to represent water on this board ? What the land ? 
Who will find the place where the land and water come 
together ? Does anyone know what we call the place 
where the land and water come together ? Give the 
term coast or shore. When sailors go far off on the 
water, where do we say they have gone? What may 
we call this water ? What may we call this shore or 
coast? How many have ever been to the sea-shore? 
•How does the water of the sea taste ? If they do not 
know, place some salt in water and have them taste it. 
Of what use is the sea?' Speak of the water rising, 
forming into clouds, and returning in rain, etc." 

(See Education by Doing, E. L. Kellogg & Co.) 

In a similar manner may be considered valleys, 
mountains, plains, deserts, etc. 

Thus, growth, based upon the all-comprehensive law 
of activity, or exercise upon appropriate material, is the 
central thought of education. 



-^^^^^^r^^^ 




~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^i^'''^''^~" 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE EXERCISE-GROUND IN EDUCATION. 



" Every parent has occasion to say now and then, "I do not know." The 
surprise of the child on first hearing that there is anything that his parents 
do not know fixes the fiict in his mind. When he has once discovered that 
his parents have something more to learn, he becomes aware— and this also 
ought to be fixed in his mind— that their education is not finished ; and that 
it is their business, as it is his, to learn something every day, as long as they 
live. So much for knowledge. The case ought to be as clear to him with 
regard to goodness. 

Thus is the truth opened to the feeblest and smallest mind that education 
has still to go on * ■■' * ■■•" 

—Harriet MartineaU'S Household Education. 



An error frequently made is to demand of the school 
all kinds of education, — education for trades and busi- 
ness, in religion, in politics, and in habits which the 
nurture of the family should supply. 

Education, in the full sense, includes the whole life 
of man, in so far as the different institutions of human 
life react upon the individual and educate him. These 
institutions are the family, the school, the church, the 
social community, and the state. 

The education that is received by each individual is 
of two kinds : 

1. The education of direct preparation, the stage of 
development and training. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



2. The education resulting from use, the stage of 
acquiring. 

The institutions that are designed to confer the prepar- 
atory development and training, are the family, kinder- 
garten and school, and to a degree, the church ; while 
those whose main function is to educate through use 
are the church, business society and the state. Each of 
these five institutions gives a special kind of education, 
which can not be given by any one of the others. Their 
combined efforts are to make the mere individual the 
possessor of the fruits of the labors and experience of 
the human race — to elevate him to his species. 

The education that the child receives in the Family 
extends thus far : by precept, example and sympathy 
he is trained into good sentiments and habits — habits 
of behavior toward superiors, equals and inferiors ; hab- 
its of personal cleanliness, of proper dress, of eating, of 
drinking, industry, economy, etc. Through these three 
he also receives his primary ideas of right and wrong ; 
by constant familiar conversation, the family develops 
the child's latent capacity for language, and it develops 
his power of observation, and awakens his interest in 
knowledge, by exercising his intelligence on the things 
around him. The advantages of the family for discharg- 
ing its responsibility are chiefly two: indefinite strength 
of aff"ection between parent and child, whereby the one 
is impelled to seek the true welfare of the other; and 
indefinite contact in the daily engagements of life, 
whereby the parent has the child's actions under his 
constant inspection with a view to the formation of 
habits, and has adequate opportunity of intercourse to 



76 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 

quicken into life the germs of his moral and intellectual 
nature. 

All the other institutions presuppose in the child that 
he has learned these great fundamental lessons in the 
family. If he has not, the other institutions are at a 
great disadvantage. The school can do but little for 
him, because it can not well deal with a child who does 
not know language, and who is not industrious, nor can 
it take time to teach him all the personal habits he 
should know. The church will be very much hamper- 
ed with him, for the spirit of reverence is lacking in 
him. 

The social and business community can not receive 
the child who comes to it devoid of family training ; 
for he lacks the sense of social propriety, has no respect 
for the rights of property, is not honest nor truthful, 
and has no instinct for industry. The beggar is the 
symbol of the destruction of the social community. 

Even the state will of necessity reject him, and be 
unable to permit him to exercise his liberty, because 
he lacks the habits which would make him a safe person; 
he has not attained the characteristics which are essential 
to the individual for living in a lawful community. The 
state imprisons him, therefore, — his period of family 
nurture, having been an education into hostility to social 
forms. 

The function of the School in education, is peculiarly 
the development of the powers of the mind, so that the 
pupil may have full use of them in after life. Present 
knowledge is not given for its own sake, nor with a view 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 77 

to future professional occupation, but that the pupil who 
has gone through the process of exercising his mind 
upon the ideas— they forming merely exercise-grounds — 
may gain therefrom the power to think accurately, feel, 
will, and act rightly, and hence acquire with facility, 
pressing thereby toward rational freedom — the goal. 
According to the degree in which it tends to give this 
power and this disposition, is any branch of knowledge 
a suitable or an unsuitable instrument for school pur- 
poses. The school has a general, not a special design ; 
it does not consider how much of this subject or of that 
will be required to fit the pupil for such and such a 
position ; but how it can best discipline his mind. The 
elevation of character implied in the attainment of this 
end, will better prepare him for the position he may be 
called on to occu]3y, than any accumulation of knowl- 
edge presented to him from its apparent exclusive adap- 
tation to its requirements. 

The Church is the highest educational institution, be- 
cause it reveals the highest principle to man, — that of 
the Creator. In revealing this principle, it reveals the 
origin and destiny of the world of nature, and of man. 
Under such an education as tlie religion of Pantheism 
teaches, there can be only despotism in the state, slavery 
in the social community, and patriarchal rule in the 
family. But with the Christian ideal, the individual is 
all-important, and the progress is toward the education 
and preservation of each individual. 

The education succeeding that of the church, is that 
of the Business and Social Community. This is regarded 



78 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

as third in importance ; that of the church being first, 
of the state second, of the famil}^ fourth, and of the 
school fifth. In this sphere, the business relation of 
man to his fellow men, continually educates the individ- 
ual, and humanizes him, or degrades him, according as 
his employment is rational or the reverse. 

As before said, the education of the State ranks in im- 
portance next to that of the church. The influence of 
the form of government, its laws and the efficiency of 
their execution, have a most powerful effect in forming 
the character of each citizen. What can school educa- 
tion do toward making a- man of the citizen who is born 
under the blight of absolute despotism? The education 
of the state would dwarf such an individual more than 
the school could cause him to grow. But under a free 
government, where each citizen is permitted to assist in 
making the laws, this education is very powerful toward 
building up self-respect and strong individuality. 

Show that each of these institutions is an organism, and that 
each is an organic part of a greater organism — the Social System. 

Make it clear tliat the purpose of the social system is raiional, 
or truth- freedom. 

Of these five educational institutions, the one that 
claims specific consideration, in this connection, is The 
School, involving a treatment of its vestibule — The Kin- 
dergarten. 



-^^^^^^^^^f^^ 



■f~^^^\ 




CHAPTER V, 



THE KINDERGARTEN. 



Those that do teach young babes, 

Do it with gentle means and easy tasks. 

—Shakespeare. 

That which issues from the heart alone 
Can bind the hearts of others to our own. 

—Goethe. 

■'Die Klndheit von heute 

1st die menschheit von morgen." 



THE GENESIS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

'No inquiry, however brief or imperfect, into the gene- 
sis of an educational system, for which so much is 
claimed as for Proebelism, can be altogether without use. 
Noticing can be rightly understood but by considering 
its connection with other things, since "to understand" 
is to perceive the relations of ideas. Indeed, to limit 
one's attention to Froebel's method itself, without ever 
attempting a more comprehensive view, is likely to con- 
tort rather than intensify the mental vision. In the in- 
tellectual firmament, reflected light plays as important 
a part as in the physical. 

All systems may be said to have descended from pre- 
vious ones. Of thought, as of life, there is no sponta- 
neous generation. The ideas of one generation are the 
mysterious progenitors of those of the next. Each age 



80 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

is the dawn of its successor, and in the eternal advance 
of truth, 

There, always is a rising sun. 

And day is ever hut begun. 

It is thus true that there is nothing new under the 
sun, since the new grows from the old, as boughs grow 
from the tree; and though errors and exaggerations are, 
from time to time, shaken off, yet "the things which 
cannot be shaken" will certainly abide. 

Carlyle says, "Literature is but a branch of religion, 
and always participates in its character." It is still 
more true that education is a branch of Mental Philoso- 
phy, and takes its mould and fashion from it. For it is 
evident that as philosophy, in successive ages, gives 
varying answers as to man's chief end and summum 
boniim, so education, which is simply an attempt to pre- 
pare him thereto, must vary accordingly. Humboldt 
hints that the vegetation of whole regions bespeaks, and 
depends on, the strata beneath ; and it is certainly true 
that wc cannot delve long in the teacher's plot without 
coming upon those moral questions which "go down to 
the centre." 

1. The dawn of the New Education arose after the 
night of the middle ages. During those long centuries, 
in education, obedience without intelligence was the 
pupil's dreary task, and self-denial without love his 
ideal of Christian duty. The "dim religious light" of 
the Church gave hardly a glimpse of the beautiful world 
of Nature without. 

2. On this "opaque of nature and of soul" the light 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 81 

of the New Learning broke in. Men's eyes were sud- 
denly opened to see "a beauty that was Greece, and a 
grandeur that was Rome," and to reverence once more 
the wisdom and piety of the classic past. A more eclec- 
tic intellect, a more genial sympathy, a more Hellenis- 
tic conception of life came upon Western Europe, and, 

Thus deeply drinking in the soul of things. 
They became wise perforce. 

Education changed accordingly. It began to recog- 
nize that man has to be trained for this world as well 
as for the future one ; that though the way to heaven is 
strait, "not every strait way leads there; and that in 
Physical Nature's vast museum was offered a field more 
worthy of man's faculties than the wandering mazes of 
scholasticism. 

3. Strange to say, however, the Spirit of the Reform- 
ation suffered an early divorce from that of the Re- 
naissance, and in the hands of the Protestant, on the one 
hand, as of Jesuits on the other, education crystallized, 
or rather congealed, into methods, which for two hundred 
years have been used by all teachers, and condemned by 
all reformers. The publication of Rousseau's Emile was 
a protest, and its date marks the next great epoch. 
Rousseau demanded that man should be treated as an 
organism, and that education should be a development 
of all the faculties of that organism. He discarded the 
prejudices of society and the dogmas of authority, and 
took as his watchwords, Nature, Reason, and Individ- 
uality. 



82 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

4. But the crude audacities of the French philoso- 
pher had, after the Revolution, to be disentangled and 
woven into order by German labor and insight. How 
the philosophy of Kant or Hegel contributed to the re- 
sult, we would not attempt to trace out. But notably 
from the fertile and sympathetic mind of Richter came 
forth in full luxuriance the ideas which Froebel plucked 
and arranged with such discernment. Richter delighted 
to preach the doctrine of an ideal-Man, and that educa- 
tion is the harmonious development of the faculties and 
dispositions of each individual He would give ample 
scope especially to the fancy and imagination of a child, 
in whose hand "the simplest wand is like Aaron's 
rod which budded." No one, moreover, knew better 
than he, that (in Carlyle's words) "A loving heart is the 
beginning of all knowledge. This it is that opens the 
whole mind, and quickens every faculty of the intellect 
to do its fit work." 

5. Inspired by the same principles, Pestalozzi and 
Froebel devised their methods. Pestalozzi may be styled 
the father of popular education. He would develop the 
human being from within outward; would give pri- 
mary importance to the receptive and perceptive facul- 
ties; and held self-activity to be the great condition of 
progress. Froebel, while following in the same line, 
brings prominently to view the truth that the education 
of the child's powers requires not only assimilation, 
but also production and creation, and that to express, to 
utter, to combine, are necessary to all true learning — to 
obtaining a firm grasp, not merely of words but of 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 83 

things. He thus recognizes alike the peaceful complete- 
ness and the" "infinite incessant expansiveness" which 
are the characteristics of childhood. 

Thus imperfectly is traced a growth which is itself the 
pledge of a future. For in any new departure in educa- 
tion which shall seek to'deal more sympathetically with 
the many-sidedness of man's mind, a system like Froe- 
bel's will surely perform for us many ''unguessed offices." 
Nor is this the less likely because it has hitherto been 
applied only to infants. Young children are Nature's 
priests, and may yet initiate us into her mysteries. 
Humanity, too long exiled "amid the alien corn" by old 
and unfeeling systems of education, will not refuse any 
guidance which will lead her back to her native fields : 

Her inheritance is wide and fair. 

Time is her seed-field, of Time she's heir.' 

Ground the being of man upon the macrocosmos, was the 
central idea of- Froebel. The microcosmos is understood 
to be in perpetual motion toward the macrocosmos. The 
path of this movement is history — what has already been 
done. Out of the three — macrocosmos, microcosmos, 
and history — a system of natural, developing education 
upfolds itself. 

The new element in Froebel is that he has taken the 
study of this trinity as the foundation of the science of 
education, and has rej^resented the necessity of starting 
from the laws of the macrocosmos. 

GENERAL NATURE AND APPLIANCES. 

A fully equipped kindergarten has a large room for 
games, and connected with it a small room, or rooms, 



84 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

for occupations. In the large room the only article of 
furniture is a piano, to be used in the games and 
marches. In each small room are small low tables and 
small chairs ; a desk for the teacher ; a cupboard with 
glass door, to contain the children's work; a blackboard 
ruled in two inch squares, and a small sofa for any little 
pupil who may be sick or sleepy. On the walls are pic- 
tures of three kinds : 

Those chosen on account of their beauty. 
Some that illustrate moral lessons. 
Others that portray the forms and habits of ani- 
mals and plants. 

As additional decorations, and as articles of reference, 
are used flowers, dried grass, heads of wheat, minerals, 
pebbles, etc. 

Busts of eminent persons, especially of those who 
have labored in the interests of children, are found here 
and there in the room. 

The tables are three feet by eighteen inches, ruled in 
inch squares; or six feet by two feet, with a line one 
inch from each edge. 

The reason for these measurements ? 

In the kindergarten are the head teacher, a mature 
woman, and young girls, one for each class often or 
twenty. 

These young girls are as older sisters to the pupils, 
and take a loving and intelligent interest in all that 
concerns them. They carry into execution the plans of 
the head teacher, and consult with, and are advised by 
her upon all points. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 85 

What two reasons are there for the employment of young 
girls in the kindergarten ? 

The apparatus devised for the kindergarten consists 
of balls, wooden cubes, paper, and various other mate- 
rials that allow the children to exercise their physical 
powers and their imagination. 

The occupations with these gifts are strictly graded, 
and by means of them the children become somewhat 
familiar with the elements of music, form, number, size; 
the properties and uses of objects ; language ; and the 
beginnings of moral training. 

Show in what way each of the above points is gained. 
The occupations having been pursued for a time, the 
children repair to the large room for games. These 
games have a three-fold object: 
To give physical exercise. 
To call into exercise the imagination. 
To cultivate the moral nature. 
How in the games may these objects be accomplished ? 
The games of the kindergarten are founded on the 
observed habits of children. They have specifically, two- 
fold purpose : 

To give exercise to the voice and body in general. 
To train some particular sense or muscle. 

GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS. 



Kommt, lasst uns unsern kindern leben. 

— Fkoebel. 

Froebel, adopting the principle of Comenius, that 
nature does nothing per saltum, held that education 



86 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

should be so conducted that it shall have no abrupt 
transitions. 

It is to be expected, therefore, that each step in the 
occupations shall be a logical sequence from the preced- 
ing. Such is the case. The various occupations are 
developed one from another in a perfectly natural order, 
beginning with the most simple and concluding with 
the most difficult. Taken together, therefore, they sat- 
isfy all the demands of the child's nature in respect both 
of physical and mental culture, and lay a sure founda- 
tion for all subsequent education of school and of life. 

Systematic work, though apparently slow, is always 
economical in the end, as it avoids the waste of time and 
power which is incurred in finding and connecting the 
lost threads of unsystematic work. Thus, a sure basis 
in lessons and exercises on Form will prepare for a study 
of those branches in which a knowledge of form is re- 
quired, as geometry, drawing, geography, etc. 

In the kindergarten the children's work begins with 
materials that are ivhole, substantial, and undivided, and 
proceeds to parts, to the less substantial, and to the divided. 
The first are more easily seen, are more tangible, and 
therefore plainer to the capacity of the young child. 
Hence the solids form the first group of the occupations. 
These are followed by planes, which form the basis for 
several series of occupations, and designs. 

The lines, which are the edges of the surfaces, become 
the next material. From the line, the passage is to the 
point, represented by the end of the line, and appearing 
in the occupation termed pricking. In this the points 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 87 



are holes, which are ranged in rows or lines, and thus 
lead again to the outline of a surface. In the reverse 
order the surface ascends to the solid, and the circle of 
consecutive occupations is thus completed. 

The kindergarten occupations would therefore develop 
in the following order : 

1. Solids — ball, cube and cylinder — gifts one to six. 

2. Surfaces — Wooden and paper planes. 

3. Lines — sticks, lines drawn on slates and paper, 
rings, thread. 

4. Points — produced by pricking, or represented by 
peas in peawork. 

Ascending from points to lines and surfaces, solids are 
reached, which may be given to the children in an un- 
finished condition, or as shapeless material, so that they 
may make their own solids, with clay and other plastic 
materials. 

FIRST GIFT. 

The first gift consists of six worsted balls with strings 
attached, of the rainbow colors. It is said that Froebel 
selected the balls as the first gift because he wished to 
found all the toys used for his games upon a mathemat- 
ical basis, and because the spherical shape of the ball is 
the simplest and most perfect form of all solid objects, 
and is that in which all other forms are contained. They 
became the first gift also because he noticed that a ball 
is the first object a mother gives to her child as soon as 
it is able to play, and because it seems to be a favorite 
even with large children. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



In compliance with the principle that in education 
there should be no abrupt transitions, it is to be expect- 
ed that this first gift forms the connection between the 
family and the kindergarten. 

By its use in the family the child learns the primary 
and the secondary colors and to express himself in cor- 
rect language concerning the various powers and move- 
ments of the ball. In the kindergarten he finds his old 
gift exhibiting new powers in the hands of numbers in- 
stead of one. If the child is timid, he is allowed to ob- 
serve the game or occupation until he shows a disposi- 
tion to join it. This is on the principle that no forcing 
is to be attempted, but that the teacher is to watch for 
the first sign of inclination, and then call it into exer- 
cise. 

The balls are taken out for use somewhat as follows : 

All stand in a ring, and the balls are brought out by 
some of the children chosen from those who volunteer, 
and they are handed gently from one to another until 
all are supplied. 

The advantage of this ? 

The following may be given as specimen exercises 
with this gift : 

The children by direction hold the balls above the 
head, in the right hand and then in the left. 

Again the ball is held in both hands in front of the 
body, and then gently raised above the head, and lower- 
ed to the floor, etc. 

What is gained by the first exercise ? What by the second ? 

When some skill has been gained in these exercises 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 89 

but before the children are wearied, the teacher tells 
some little story which the movements illustrate, as the 
balls represent birds picking up crumbs from the ground 
and carrying them to their young; or they are the cargo 
of a boat and the children are handing them up to men 
in a ship, etc. 

Then a song is sung in which the balls are spoken of 
as birds, cargoes, etc. 

The balls having been given out as usual the teacher 
finds that here is, for example, a red one. She asks how 
many have balls of the same color, who can point out 
anything of the same color in the room, name things of 
the same color in the room, name things of the same 
color out of doors, at home, etc. A timid child is asked 
to show his ball and the same kind of work is taken 
with it. After a consideration of color, number is 
considered by having the balls of different colors 
counted as held ; then all of one color, e.g., green, placed 
in a circle and counted ; a circle of another color placed 
outside of that and counted ; then both counted, etc. 

The balls are placed and retaken in perfect order, and 
songs and stories accompany the exercise as before. 



The children stand side by side in the circle and at 
the word of command or song, as, 

' The soft ball loves to wander 

From one hand to another,' 
pass the ball from the right hand to the left and from 
the left to the next child's right, thus each receiving 
the ball of each and passing it on. The ball may be 



90 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

imagined to be other things, as a child, a bird, etc. 
In which case the song changes to 'The little child 
loves to wander,' etc. 

In regard to exercises it is to be understood that both 
the teacher and the pupils are to frequently invent them, 
governed by the following thoughts : — 

1. The various parts of the body, both singly and 
in combination are to be exercised in a gentle, graceful 
manner without undue fatigue. 

2. The appropriate moral and intellectual faculties 
are to be called into use and trained by arousing the 
dormant ones and directing any that are taking the 
wrong direction into right channels. 

3. The exercises are to be linked to previous work 
in order to bring in the element of association. 

What advantages arise from having the pupils invent exer- 
cises ? 

This gift may form the ground work of exercises in 
language upon various topics. 

For example, the children may be led to express freely 
the qualities, actions, and changes of position of the 
ball ; to imagine the ball with its string to be a pendu- 
lum and enter into a conversation concerning clocks ; to 
suppose it to be a potato or apple, and themselves to 
cook, peel and place it in a plate upon the table, after 
which they converse concerning manner of holding the 
spoon, knife and fork, and other points in table eti- 
quette. 

Again, the ball may be imagined to be a grape, cur- 
rant, cherry, etc., and may thus open the way to a con- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 91 

versation about the vine, bush, or tree ; or it may be 
imagined to be a seed in the ground, and the sj^rout- 
ing of seeds may be talked about. These topics would 
naturally lead to conversation and songs concerning the 
gardener and his work, Spring, Autumn, etc. 

THe ball may also be imagined to be a bird and held 
in the hand as in a nest. This may lead to a conversa- 
tion about birds, their homes, habits, etc. Or the ball 
may be thought to be an egg in the nest, hatched, and 
the young bird cared for and taught to fly, etc. Thus 
the children acquire a real interest in animals and their 
habits — the true foundation of a reverence for life and 
living things. 

How may this last theme tend to develop reverence for the 
Creator and His highest creation — man ? 

It is to be understood that the range of subjects suit- 
able for language exercises is by no means limited to 
these suggested, nor to this gift. The aim is to show 
that this— the most simple gift — is in the hands of a 
thoughtful, sympathetic teacher, fitted to cultivate the 
hand, senses, and voice ; and to call forth the idea of 
number, language, the power of imitation, sympathy, 
politeness and reverence. 

Among rhymes suitable may be given the following : 

1. For the directions — 

"Look ! the balls swing to and fro ; 
Ne'er too fast, ne'er too slow. 
Swing to left, swing to right.. 
Swing together in our sight." 



92 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

2. For plants — 

"Winter's storms and frosts are over, 
Trills the lark at early dawn ; 
Guelder-roses, springtime's snowballs. 
Scatter snow-flakes on the lawn." 

3. In connection with themes to awaken reverence — 

"We sow the seed in early spring, 
When the rain comes mild and sweet ; 
It lies safe hid from the chilly rime. 
From the stormy wind and sleet. 

"It grows, and it spreads its tiny roots, 

In the earth so cool and light ; 

But ever its buds and leaves look up 

To the sunshine, warm and bright. 

"So does our Maker plant us here 

In the world, to live and grow ; 

Let us, like the flower, look up to heaven, 

Though set in the earth below." 

How does this gift supplement and react upon the family and 
its training? How does it prepare for the school ? In what 
work of the primary school may this gift be used to advantage ? 

SECOND GIFT. 

The central thought in the first gift is color ; in the 
second, form. 

Is this in accord with natural development ? 

The principle that there is to be no abrupt transition, 
but a gradual procedure from simple to complex, pre- 
pares the mind for the second gift — the wooden ball, 
cylinder, and cube — in which is exemplified clearly an 
object, its opposite and their mediative. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 93 



What training may be gained in taking out the gift? Deter- 
mine a set of directions. 

The first work in the second gift is the comparison of 
the hard with the soft ball. , In this comparison the 
children learn the meaning of such words as light, 
heavy, hard, soft, rough, smooth, etc. As to sound, the 
hard ball will be found to produce a sharp sound, when 
it strikes upon the table ; this will suggest to the imagi- 
nation a hammer or some other solid tool, and may lead 
to imitation of, and conversation concerning the work 
of blacksmiths, tinsmiths, carpenters, etc. The children 
should be led to see what the soft ball is best fitted to 
do and what the hard, together with the reason. 

After a comparison of the two balls the study of the 
cube is commenced. It is found that while the ball 
moves readily, the cube does not, and this fact is fixed 
by some such expression as the following: — 
"This is' the ball that runs away, 
This is the cube sitting still all day." 

The children are then led to point to the different 
faces, edges and corners and to give them their names ; 
they are then counted, after which the ball and cube are 
compared in respect to these characteristics. The edges 
and faces are then measured and the result fixed in 
mind. In this work the children become familiar with 
the terms height, breadth, and depth. 

At all stages the idea being considered is viewed in 
connection with familiar objects, as when speaking of 
points (corners) and lines, they are to be pointed out in 
the room, in nature, etc. 



94 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

The cylinder is then to be compared with the cube 
and the ball. 

What points of likeness and difference will be found ? 
What work may be done with the axes and diameters of the 
ball, cube and cylinder ? How ? 

In this gift the child gains some elementary concep- 
tions in regard to motion and resulting appearance. 

In what way may the gift lead to this ? 

As in gift one the imagination is called into exercise at 
every stage. Thus, the cube may be imagined to repre- 
sent a house, table, sheep, etc ; the cylinder, a roller, a 
man, etc; the ball, a wagon, train, mouse, etc. 

The cube with a stick placed upright in it may repre- 
sent a fort with a flagstaff, and supplying a paper flag 
the children are led to converse concerning a fort, its 
use, and those who live in it ; a cube with a stick in it 
may also form a carpenter's mallet and thus lead to a 
familiar talk about the carpenter, his tools and his 
work. A song of the carpenter and his useful labors 
may be sung, and his motions imitated. 

The imaginative exercises of this gift may be much 
extended. The progress of a child is as follows : 

1. He observes places and persons present. 

2. He becomes able to think and speak of them 
when they are absent. 

3. By means of what experience has shown him of 
distance and persons, he is able to think of places and 
persons that he has never seen. 

The construction work of gift two should give this 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 95 



natural growth such exercise as shall systematically 
develop the powers of mind and at the same time give 
the child valuable physical and moral truths. 
Exercises such as the following will tend to do this : — 

A short stick with a paper sail, converts the cube into 
a boat, and a sail may be taken along a river, thus 
furnishing the occasion for a conversation upon the 
river, its water, its banks, fish, etc; or, the boat may be 
made larger, called a ship, and launched for an ocean 
voyage. The imaginary voyage will form the ground 
for talks on storms, waves, sea-birds, icebergs, etc. 

Voyages may be made to Holland, Spain, Brazil, 
Cuba, etc., obtaining from each its principal productions. 
The relative distances to these regions is to be indicated 
by the time occupied; and the cargoes form subjects for 
for object and language lessons. 

After the children have become familiar with the 
idea of journey^ and voyages to distant places, by con- 
nection with objects in common use, they may be led 
to picture these places in imagination, and thus lay the 
foundation of geography. The ship's voyage along a 
coast may be imagined, the character of the coast 
pictured, and the towns described and named. Pic- 
tures from geographies and periodicals will aid much in 
this work. The imaginary track of the ship along a 
coast may be traced upon the board, or in moulding 
sand ; by such work the outline of a region may be 
made familiar, and the use of a map learned. This 
work should be accompanied by lessons on place, dis- 
tance, measurement, etc. 



96 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Several children may combine to build with their 
gifts. A square may be formed of four cubes; on these 
two or more cylinders may be placed to represent a fac- 
tory chimney, monument, telegraph-post, light-house, 
etc. A conversation is thus prompted concerning those 
who are employed at such places, what they do for us, 
what we should do for them, etc. 

How does this gift supplement and react upon the family and 

its training? 

How does it prepare for the school? * 

In what work of the primary school may this gift be used to 

advantage ? 

THIRD GIFT. 

The purpose of the third gift is to train the mind and 
the hand by means of exercises in form, number, con- 
struction, and design. Ihe gift is a two-inch cube, 
divided once each way so as to form eight one-inch 
cubes. This gift forms a contrast to the second gift, 
inasmuch as in this one the whole is divided, while in 
the other the cube, sphere and cylinder are, each, undi- 
vided wholes. The connecting link, or mediative, is the 
cube-shape of the third gift. 

At about three years of age a child shows a wish to 
ascertain the cause of things. It attempts to take objects 
to pieces, and to alter their form in order to discover 
new peculiarities in, and fresh applications for them. 
After examining their exterior forms, it wants to see 
their interior, and by putting the parts together either 
to restore them to their original form, or to form some- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 97 



thing new. This is the reason why a child of that age 
is in the hahit of breaking to pieces its toys, and of pre- 
ferring to play with the pieces rather than with the 
whole toy ; and for that reason the divided cube is pro- 
vided at this stage, since, while it satisfies this desire, it 
is not easily destroyed. 

With this, and with the succeeding gifts, forms of 
knowledge, forms of utility or life, and forms of art or 
beauty, are produced. Forms of knowledge are the 
mathematical forms. Forms of utility are those used in 
real life, as the chair, table, sofa, bedstead, etc. 

Forms of art are creations of the imagination, includ- 
ing especially symmetrical forms, such as architectural 
designs, designs for carpets, wall paper, etc. 

As in the second gift the taking out and the replacing 

of the gift form exercises of great value. 

Prepare directions for taking out, and for replacing. 
What is to be gained by such exercises ? 

The work with the third gift consists mainly of exer- 
cises in : 

Comparison in form. 

Number. 

Construction or building. 

Designing. 

The first exercise is to examine, measure, describe 
and name the gift. All points of likeness and differ- 
ence as compared with the second gift are then discover- 
ed and stated. 

The work in number is mainly counting. It is taken 
somewhat as follows : 

1. There being ten gifts upon the table the pupils 



98 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

first touch and count all the faces, corners, and edges of 
each cube, and secondly, count the cubes thus : one, 
two, three, etc. to ten; and ten, nine, eight, etc. to one, 
each pupil touching and counting his own. 

2. The left half is drawn away from the right half 
by each pupil, and the parts are compared as to size and 
each part compared with the whole as to size and num- 
ber. The term half is then applied. 

3. The halves are counted to twenty and then back 
to one, by ones and by twos, as one half, two halves, 
three halves, etc.; twenty halves, nineteen halves, etc. 

4. Work as in " 3," modified by the removal of the 
first half Thus, one, three, five, etc ; nineteen, seven- 
teen, fifteen, etc. 

5. The midway point is made the starting point, and 
the number of ones and of twos, from that point to 
either end is found by counting. 

The cube is then divided into fourths, and the five 
kinds of work taken with fourths; after which the 
division is made into eighths, and the division follow- 
ed by similar exercises. 

Indicate the points of knowledge that the children will gain 
from these exercises. The kind of discipline. How may this 
gift be used in connection with square and cubic measure? 

The work in construction, or building, is to be in con- 
formity to certain rules : 

1. Each construction must be gradually developed 
from the cube. 

2. In each building all of the cubes must be used. 

3. Every structure that can be produced by the re- 
moval of one cube, is to be constructed before one is 
built requiring two cubes, etc. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOI.. 99 

4. Each structure must he gradually reformed into 
the cube. 

These rules are based on what principle of education ? 

There are three kinds of work. One in which train- 
ing is given to the powers of observation, imitation, 
imagination and language. Another in which training 
is given to the powers of memory, imagination and 
and language. A third, in which the main thought is 
the development of the social nature. 

In the first case, the teacher or a pupil builds a struc- 
ture, the pupils imitate, and a conversation is had con- 
cerning it. 

In the second case, the teacher names the structure, 
the pupils make it, and the conversation follows. 

In the third kind of work a child is allowed to build 
as he chooses, and often requires more than his eight 
cubes. When this occurs, the other children are led to 
assist by lending the cubes required, while the one 
building is taught to accept the help gracefully, to return 
the cubes as soon as he is done with them, and to be 
ready to assist others in like cases. 

In another form of this exercise, one child is the 
architect, while the rest act as laborers. 

What things are gained by these last exercises? 

In designing, the same rules apply as in building. 
Designing differs from building in that in the former, 
the cubes form only one layer on the table, forming 
patterns, or forms of symmetry. Everything is develop- 
ed from the square, and all designs that can be made 
by the moving of the upper square, are completed before 



100 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

the lower square is moved. Each move is as slight as 
possible, and always by exact measurement. 

The principle of teaching involved in these rules of design- 
ing? 

How may music be taught by means of the third gift? 

How does this gift supplement and react upon the family 
and its training ? 

How does it prepare for the school ? 

In what work of the primary school may this gift be used to 
advantage ? 

FOURTH GIFT. 

This gift, like the third, is a box containing a cube 
divided into eight equal parts. The parts are not cubes, 
however, but are oblongs, each measuring two inches in 
length, one in width and one half of an inch in thick- 
ness. 

The difference between this gift and the previous one 
lies in the form, of the parts and the likeness in 'the 
number of the parts. 

Indicate the difference, 

The mediative of gifts three and four, is seen when 
two cubes of the third gift are placed together so as to 
form a rectangle ; the rectangle is equal in length and 
width to the tablet of the fourth gift, and in width 
and height to a cube of the third. The mediative 
also exists in either gift— both forming when wholes, 
cubes of equal size. 

The work with this gift is similar to that of gift three: 
comparison, number, building, and design. 

The same exercises are taken in number as in the 
previous gift, and the fractional names, half, quarter, 
eighth, are applied to the new divisions of the cube. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 101 

What is the effect of continuing similar exercises with dif- 
ferent forms? 

The forms in building tire, as before, those of knowl- 
edge, utility, and beauty. The forms differ consider- 
ably from those produced with the cubes, and give rise 
to conversations concerning a greater range of subjects. 
For instance, two or more slaljs leaning against each 
other form a tent. 

This introduces a conversation about those who live 
in tents, why they do so, where the tent is usually 
pitched, etc. The children may, then, in imagination, 
travel with some Arab family; or have told to them the 
story of Gemila, the child of the Desert — one of The 
Seven Little Sisters ; or consider some early Bible story. 

Three or four slabs will form a cavern, and thus lead 
to a talk concerning caves. If the contents of several 
boxes are combined, buildings of increased size and 
complexity may be produced. Thus, a farm with its 
yards, stables, cowsheds, barn, carriage house, etc., may 
be represented. The name and use of each part, the 
habits of the animals, etc, are considered. A shop or 
manufactory may be treated in the same manner. If 
'^ach tablet is made to represent a store or shop, a street 
may be represented, and the children may be led to 
converse as to the contents of the stores, their prices 
and uses, where and how obtained, etc. 

In designing the oblongs are laid flat and symmetri- 
cally. The rules for designing, as well as those for build- 
ing, are the same as for gift three. The peculiar pow- 
ers of the oblong, as distinct from those of the cube, 
arise from the fact that it has narrow sides and ends, 



102 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

and that it may be made to stand on either of these. 
If upon the narrow edge of one tablet, another is put 
upon its broad side, the law of equilibrium is illustrat- 
ed ; if the whole of the tablets are arranged in a row, 
with a small space between each two, so that should 
the first one fall, all the others will also, the law of 
transmitted motion is shown. 

This gift affords an admirable opportunity for the 
legitimate exercise of the child's natural propensity to 
knock over or down its play things and buildings. 
This propensity is, of course, to be kept within bounds, 
and regulated ; but within its bounds it is to have due 
exercise. 

The act of upsetting buildings and playthings may involve 
what different feelings ? 

How should the propensity be treated ? 

How does this gift supplement and react upon the family and 
its work ? 

How does it prepare for the school? 
In what work of the primary school may this gift be used to 
advantage ? , 

FIFTH GIFT. 

All the gifts, as previously indicated, develop from 
one another. The fifth gift, like the third and fourth, is 
a cube ; but for convenience it is larger than the pre- 
vious ones. The cube of the third gift is divided once 
in all directions. The natural progress is from 1 to 2 ; 
hence, the cube of the fifth gift is divided twice in each 
direction. The result is twenty-seven cubes of equal 
size. But as this division would only have multiplied, 
not diversified the occupation material, it was deemed 
best to introduce a new element, by subdividing some 
of the cubes in a slanting direction. Heretofore, only 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 103 

perpendicular and horizontal lines have been used. 
Tliese opposites, however, require their meditative ; and 
this meditation has already appeared in the forms of life 
and of beauty in the t^vo previous gifts, when side and 
edge were made to touch. 

The shinting direction appearing in that manner, in- 
cidentally, becomes here permanent by introducing the 
oblique line by a division of the cube. Three of the 
small cubes of the fifth gift are divided into half cubes, 
and three into quarter cubes, so that there are twenty- 
one whole cubes, six half cubes, and twelve quarter 
cubes — constituting a gift of thirty-nine pieces. 

The first practice with this gift is like that with the 
otliers introduced thus far. The gift is measured. It is 
then compared and contrasted with the other gifts in all 
points. The children then deal with numbers in con- 
nection with it— the gift obviously affording a wide 
field. 

By these exercises the child becomes familiar enough 
with the gift to employ it for the production of various 
forms of use, beauty and knowledge, in building and 
design. 

The main condition in these last exercises, as before 
indicated, is that for each representation the whole of 
the material is to be employed ; not that only one object 
should be built, but that having built one structure, the 
remaining pieces, if any, are to be used so as to repre- 
sent accessory parts. The child should be constantly 
reminded that nothing belonging to a whole can be su- 
perfluous. Nor should it be forgotten that nothing 
should be destroyed, but everything produced by re- 



104 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



building. It is advisable to always start from the figure 
of the cube. 

How does the gift supplement and react upon the family 
and its work? 

How does it prepare for the school? 

In what work of the primary school may this gift be used to 
advantage ? 

SIXTH GIFT. 

As the third and fifth gifts form an especial sequence 
of development, so the fourth and sixth are intimately 
connected with each other. The sixth gift contains 
twenty-seven oblong blocks of the same dimensions as 
those of the fourth gift. Of these twenty-seven blocks, 
eighteen are whole, six are divided breadthwise, each in 
two squares, and three by a lengthwise cut, each in two 
columns, altogether making thirty -six pieces. 

This gift differs from the fifth in the shape and the 
number of the parts ; and in being capable of being made 
into a greater variety of forms of perception, of utility, 
and of beauty or art. 

The sixth gift completes the groups of bodies, the suc- 
ceeding mediums of occupation representing surface, line 
and 'point. The succeeding exercises are : Pattern lay- 
ing with wooden planes ; paper-folding ; paper-cutting ; 
lath-platting ; stick-laying ; ring-laying ; thread-laying ; 
construction with sticks and softened peas ; paper-plait- 
ing ; paper-pricking (not much used) ; stitching ; draw- 
ing ; coloring ; modelling in clay. 

The relation existing between "the kindergarten, and 
other education is shown by the following diagram, 
adapted from the table by A. De Portugall : 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



105 



Third Funda- 


mental Form— 


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Mathematics. 

Science. 
Philosophy. 



Second Fundamental Form. 
The Cube. 



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fCc(Di-ii-jHjfD>imi-(rtii-!i-j 
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Fine Arts 
Pnilosophy 



First Fundamental 
Form— The Ball. 




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Harmonious Development. 



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CHAPTER VI, 



THE SCHOOL. 



" What you would put into the life of a nation you must first put into 
the schools."' 

"What constitutes a State? Men, high-minded men; men who their 
duties know, and knowing dare perform." 



THE GROUND OF THE SCHOOL. 

" The state may be viewed as including the family 
and civil society. It may be viewed as a means where- 
by the family and civil society are possible ; as the agent 
which creates, defines and protects them. But the ex- 
istence of these institutions in any degree of perfection, 
is made possible to the people through the training 
given in obtaining possession of literature, science and 
art. 

Take from the people the training given in obtaining 
knowledge of the common branches and they would be 
not merely children, but barbarians. All the evidences 
of civilized life would be as difficult to interpret as 
were the ships of Columbus to the Aborigines. 

The necessity for universal education may be seen 
from the following suppositions : 

1. Deprive one of his skill obtained in gaining a 
knowledge of geography, that science which frees him 
from his limits in space ; the science which teaches him 
a rational conception of the earth and his relations to 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 107 

it; deprive him of this skill and knowledge, and the 
earth l)ecomes to him that extent of territory which he 
has actually perceived. 

2. Take from one his development obtained through 
a knowledge of history, the subject that frees him from 
his limitations in time, and reveals to him the struggle 
of the human soul towards its goal — freedom — the sub- 
ject which reveals to him the antecedent events which 
he has unconsciously taken up into his own life ; take 
from one the result of this knowledge and he is limited 
to the events of his own narrow observation. 

3. Take from one his discipline arising from the 
effort to gain a knowledge of arithmetic, and it is impos- 
sible for him to effect exchanges except in a sensuous 
equivalent ; such a thing as a note of hand, a bank note, 
or a bill of exchange is an incomprehensible object to 
him. 

4. Take from one his ability to read, and he is lim- 
ited to the narrow range of his own experience. 

The rich treasures of the past are his only who takes 
possession of them. 

From these few statements it may be seen that the 
very existence of a highly civilized state is conditioned 
on the universal education of the people. 

Universal education in the wide sense in which it has 
been defined, is the means by which the people may 
attain their destiny — freedom. 

The state is created as a special institution whose end 
is "to ascertain, define, and enforce what is right and 
to prohibit what is wrong." 



108 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

The state in the exercise of its functions creates the 
school as a necessary means for the education of all : for 
giving that education, intellectual and moral, which 
will enable the individual to join himself to the various 
parts of the social organization, and to participate in 
the substantial enjoyment of the freedom which they 
afford. 

The ground of the school is the necessity of the peo- 
ple for training by instruction in the elements of learn- 
ing. The state creates the school as a means to meet 
this necessity — a necessity which no other institution 
can meet." 

THE IDEA OF THE SCHOOL. 

This will be presented under form and purpose. 

FORM. 

'' As an institution created by the state, the school 
must have a legal form. This form is delineated in the 
whole body of school laws of the state. 

1. The form of the school in Indiana is called " The 
School System of Indiana." 

(1) Ungraded Schools. 

(2) Township Graded Schools. 

(3) Town and City Schools. 

(4) Indiana State Normal School. 

(1) State University. 

(2) Purdue University. 



Common School 
System. 



b. University System. 



c. Special Schools, 



r(«) 



School for the Blind. 
0) Charitable. ■( (.5) School for Deaf Mutes. 

:) Soldiers' Orphans' Home. 

,„, -r> „ , r («) Girls' Reformatory. 
(2) Reformatory^ ' 

I {b) Boys' Reformatory. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



109 



2. The common school system is administered by 
the following officers: 

r (1) state Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
{a) Governor of the State. 
{6) Superintendent of Public 
Instruction. 

(c) Presidents of State Uni- 
versity, State Normal and 
Purdue University. 

(d) Superintendents of the 
three largest cities of the 



a. General Officers. 



^ (2) 



Board of | 
Education "] 



3. Special Officers. 



(1) 



(2) 



- (3) 



(4) 



L 



In Ungraded 
Schools. 



In Township Grad- 
ed Schools. 



In City and Town 
Schools. 



In State 
School. 



Normal 



(5) In State University 



(6) In Purdue Univer- 
sity. 



State. 

f (a) County Superinten- 
dent. 

I (^) County Board of 
^ Education. 

I (<:) Township Trustee. 

I (d) Director. 

[ (<r) Teacher. 

(a) Township Trustee. 
(6) Teacher. 

(a) Board of Trustees. 
{i) City Superintendent 
{c) Teachers. 

(a) Board of Trustees. 
(6) President and Fac- 
ulty. 

(a) Board of Trustees. 
(d) President and Fac- 
ulty. 

(«) Board of Trustees. 
{d) President and Fac- 
ulty. 



STATE SUPERINTENDENT. 

1. Election : At a general election by the qualified 
voters of the state. 



110 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

2. Time of taking office : Fifteenth day of March 
succeeding his election. 

3. Term of office : Two years. 

4. Office how filled in case of death, resignation, or 
removal : By the Governor of the State. 

5. Duties of office : 

«. Takes general charge of the schools of the state 
and supervises the management of the school funds and 
revenues. 

b. Visits every county once in two years, confers 
with officers, and makes puhlic addresses. 

c. Receives rei)orts concerning proceeds of state 
school tax, and interest on school fund from County 
Auditors, and statistical reports from County Superin- 
tendents. 

d. Apportions the school revenue for tuition to coun- 
ties in proportion to the number of school children 
therein. 

e. Hears appeals from decisions of County Superin- 
tendents, and gives opinions concerning the school law. 

/. Makes annual reports and causes school law to be 
published. 

g. Is Trustee of the State Normal School and Presi- 
dent of State Board of Education. 

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION — DUTIES. 

The Board forms an advisory council of the State 
Superintendent. It issues instructions to County Su- 
perintendents, and prepares questions for the use of 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. Ill 

County Superintendents in the monthly examination of 
teachers. 

It examines candidates for state license, and issues 
certificates for life to such as are competent and have 
had forty-eight months successful experience. 

It appoints trustees of the State University, and the 
visitors to the State Normal School. It commissions 
High Schools to send graduates to State University, 
Purdue University, and State Normal School without 
examination. 

COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT. 

1. How appointed : By the Township Trustees at a 
meeting held at the County Auditor's ofHce on the first 
Monday in June. 

2. Term of office : Two years. 

3. Duties : 

a. To examin-e all applicants for license as teachers 
of the schools of the state by a series of written or 
printed questions. 

b. To hold at least one public examination in each 
month of the year. 

c. To revoke when required licenses granted by him 
or his predecessors. 

d. To take general superintendence of the schools of 
his county. 

e. To attend each Township Institute at least once in 
each year. 

/. To encourage teachers' institutes and associations, 
and to labor in every practicable way to elevate the 



112 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

standard of teaching, and to improve the condition of 
the schools. 

g. To constitute the medium between the State 
Superintendent and subordinate school officers. 

Any questions arising about the school law, the 
opinion of the County Superintendent should first be 
sought, whence an appeal may be made to the State 
Superintendent, on a written statement of facts certified 
to by the County Superintendent. 

h. To at all times carry out the orders of the State 
Board of Education and State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction. 

The County Board of Education is composed of the 
following persons : County Superintendent, Trustees of 
the townships. Presidents of the School Boards of the 
several towns and cities of the county. 

TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE — DUTIES. 

1. He shall receive the special school revenue, and 
the revenue for tuition. 

2. The Trustee shall employ and contract with teach- 
ers, but he has no power to engage a teacher without a 
license properly issued, and in full force at the date of 
the employment. 

3. The Trustee is personally liable for the wages of a 
teacher for services rendered under his contract without 
examination. 

PURPOSE. 

The purpose of the school is to give strength and 
training to the will and sensibilities — ethical conduct; 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 113 

and to confer knowledge by employing it as an instru- 
ment of moral and intellectual training — mechanical con- 
duct, and scholarship. 

Conduct may be defined, in general, as the manner in 
which one bears himself in relation to The Infinite, 
to himself and to others. 

In its endeavor to confer conduct, the school seeks to 
prepare the pupil for self-conformity to the standard of 
action in each of these relations. 



->'>^^^^:7^^^ 






CHAPTER VII, 



CONDUCT WILL— SENSIBILITY— INTELLECT- 



Life is three-fourths conduct; one-fourth knowledge. 

Matthew Arnold. 

The reward of one duty performed, is the power to fulfill another. 

The idea of duiy, that recognition of something to be lived for beyond 
the mere satisfaction of self, is to the moral life what the addition of a great 
central ganglion is to animal life. No one can begin to mold himself on a 
faith or an idea without rising to a higher order of experience ; a principle 
of subordination, of self-mastery, has been introduced into his nature ; he is 
no longer a mere bundle of impressions, desires, and impulses. 

George Eliot. 



I. CONDUCT IN RELATION TO THE INFINITE. 

In SO far as the school takes a part in grounding the 
child in his duty in this relation, it is usually through 
the medium of the devotional exercises of the school. 

The work of the opening exercises may be viewed in 
two ways : 

1. As intellectual. 

2. As moral. 

As intellectual it is subject to the same laws as other 
branches of instruction. 

The child will not attend to the instruction with the 
reverence due, merely from its own pre-eminent import- 
ance. Therefore, as before stated, the same conditions 
under which he yields his attention when being in- 
structed in reading, geography, etc., must be observed 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 115 

when this, the highest of all subjects, is being consid- 
ered. 

a. The conditions for securing attention explained. 

h. The ones that apply to opening exercises indicated. 

But, as stated, the opening exercises have a moral as- 
pect also — the implanting of the germs of love and rev- 
erence. This is the higher aspect. No one who deals 
with this phase of school work, will contemplate an aim 
lower than this. 

THE DESIGN. 

The design of parental training is, first of all, to lead 
the child to see that he is the object of parental love, 
and to foster in him sentiments of love, trust, and obedi- 
ence in return. 

The design of opening exercises should be to impress 
the child with a sense of God's parental love and pres- 
ence, so as to arouse in him sentiments of filial love and 
reverence for Grod. 

THE BASIS. 

1. Basis in general explained. 

2. The basis of a series of opening exercises. 

The true basis for this important work must be that 
love and reverence which dwell amid the sentiments, 
examples, and associations of home. 

The idea of God as The Father must be made the 
central one. To this all the others must be subordin- 
ated, and it must give life and light to them all. 

The child's knowledge of home relations and this 
central idea of God as a Heavenly parent, form an 
amply sufficient basis for that series of lessons extend- 



116 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

ing through the early years of school, in which the 
pupils may be led to understand the love, reverence, and 
obedience due to the Divine Being in His benign as- 
pects; as, 

a. The creator and preserver of all. 

b. All-knowing and ever-present. 

c. Endowed with wisdom, holiness, truth and good- 
ness. 

d. The infinitely kind and generous Ruler and 
Father in His future and eternal home. 

Obedience and happiness are the ideas of the child's 
early existence, and therefore this is the aspect of the 
divine character which he can comprehend, for it is the 
same in its kind as that relation in which he is con- 
scious of standing to his earthly parents. In the words, 
" Our Father who art in heaven," is found the whole 
groundwork of that love and reverence which it is the 
aim of the opening exercises to instill. These words 
are worthy from their inexhaustible depth of meaning 
and fullness of obligation to preface that model prayer 
which was uttered for us by the Divine Teacher. 

Let prominence be given to the idea of " Father,^^ and 
the pupils may be led to see : — 

That He provides lovingly and carefully for His chil- 
dren. 

That when He sees His children in danger He rescues 
them from it. 

That they may cherish the elevating hope of an eter- 
nal life, for they will naturally look upon a father as 
unwilling to bestow life upon his children in order after- 
wards to destroy them. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. Il7 

That they should render unto Him all the love, rever- 
ence, and obedience which are due to a father. 

Let the thought be centered upon " our'''' and it will be 
evident that His love and care are over not merely one, 
but all the members of his countless family, and 
therefore that they ought to dwell together in unity and 
love. 

Dwell upon the phase " in heaven,^^ and they will un- 
derstand that He is all-wise, holy, and good. 

That they should seek to be like him, and to know 
and do His will. 

That if they render unto Him a fitting love, rever- 
ence, and obedience, they will dwell with Him in that 
abode of peace and joy. 

THE PARTS. 

The opening exercises in the early years of school life 
as in later years, may consist of singing, lessons on the 
Sacred Word or on topics closely connected therewith, 
and prayer. 

THE METHOD. 

The child will best apprehend the work of the open- 
ing exercises when presented by the method of illustra- 
tion, and not explanation proper. (See chapter ix.) 

It will therefore be readily seen that the main chan- 
nels of instruction in this work as based upon the Holy 
Writ, are three : 

1. Narration or Biography. 

2. Emblems. 

3. Parables. 



118 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



Having indicated the three channels along which the 
instruction should flow, it remains — 

1. To speak briefly of the nature of each. 

2. To designate the steps peculiar to each. 

3. To furnish an illustration. 

NARRATION. 

1. Nature. 

Biography always interests and instructs the child, 
whenever he is susceptible of instruction at all, because 
it appeals directly to his experience. And of biogra- 
phies, there are few if any, more highly interesting and 
instructive than those of the Bible, both on account of 
the admirable simplicity with which they are deline- 
ated, and of the unerring standard of conduct by which 
all the actions which they record, are tried. 

2. Steps. 

When the truth to be conveyed by the opening exer- 
cises is expressed in the form of narration, the steps 
should be : — 

a. To read the account to the children, or to tell the 
story in one's own words, as in familiar conversation, 
depending on the power of description to impress the 
pictures vividly on the mind. 

h. To lead the pupils to note the most important 
features. 

c. To lead them to exercise their judgment concern- 
ing these features. 

d. To lead them to apply the conclusion to them- 
selves. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 119 



e. To lead them to express the main thought in a 
Bible precept or maxim. 

3. Illustration. 

The separation of Abram and Lot. 

Gen, XIIL 5-13. 

" And Lot also, which went with Abram had flocks 
and herds and tents. 

And the land was not able to bear them that they 
might dwell together ; for their substance was great, so 
that they could not dwell together. 

And there was strife between the herdmen of Abram 's 
cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle ; and the Canaan- 
ite and Perizzite dwelled then in the land. 

And Abram said unto Lot, ' Let there be no strife, I 
pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herd- 
men and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. 

Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, 
I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand 
then I will go to the right ; or, if thou depart to the 
right hand, then I will go to the left.' 

And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of 
Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the 
Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the gar- 
den of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as thou comest 
unto Zoar. 

Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan ; and Lot 
journeyed east ; and they separated themselves, the one 
from the other. 

Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot 



120 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent 
toward Sodom." 

INTRODUCTION. 

Before treating of the main subject — the separation — 
lead the pupils to note carefully the persons mentioned 
in the lesson ; show how they came to be travelling to- 
gether ; dwell briefly upon their previous journeyings 
showing that they had last been in Egypt on account 
of a grievous famine and that they had now returned 
out of Egypt into Canaan and had pitched their tents 
at a mountain between Bethel and Hai, where Abram 
had previously erected an altar and offered sacrifices 
unto the Lord ; call special attention to that which 
they had with them, showing their occupation and 
wealth. 

THE SEPARATION. 

Under the main subject, treat first the difiiculty. 

In treating of the difficulty, show that their prosperity 
was in accord with God's promise as previously given to 
Abram. 

Gen. XIL 2. 

" And I will make of thee a great nation ; and I will 
bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be 
a blessing." 

Show in what their wealth consisted, and illustrate by 
familiar observation that a grassy and well-watered re- 
gion is required ; lead the pupils to see also that many 
herdsmen would be required to care for the flocks ; how 
many, show by referring to Gen. XIV-14. " And when 
Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 121 

armed his trained servants born in his own house, three 
hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan." 

Describe carefully the region in which they were, with 
its pasturage and wells, explaining the dangers of the 
situation, the place and the cause of the quarrel. 

Under the main subject — the separation — treat in the 
second place of the generosity of Abram. Call atten- 
tion to his temptation, considering what he did in con- 
nection with what ordinary men would have done under 
the circumstances ; determine reasons for his action by 
showing how they were related — uncle and nephew — 
and that strife is always to be deprecated ; is so especial- 
ly among kinsmen ; and also that Abram, being a man 
of God, felt that he should set a worthy example before 
the idolatrous Canaanites. Lead them to see how he 
avoided the quarrel, the prudence of separating, and in 
addition, by referring to Gen. XII. 1-5, show who had 
the better right to choose, and why. 

" Now the Lord had said unto Abram, ' Get thee out 
of thy country, and from thy kinsmen, and from thy 
father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee ; and I 
will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee 
and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing ; 
and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him 
that curseth thee ; and in thee shall all the famihes of 
the earth be blessed.' 

And Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto 
him, and Lot went with him ; and Abram was seventy 
and five years old when he departed out of Haran." 



122 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Dwell upon the generosity and faith in God, shown 
by Abram. 

Under the main subject^he separation — treat in the 
third place of the selfish choice of Lot. Let what he 
should have thought and done, be made to stand out 
clearly against what he really thought and did ; describe 
particularly the expressions, '' lifted up his eyes " — " all 
the way to Zoar." 

Show that it was a meadow land all along Jordan, 
well watered everywhere and very fertile, i. e. a garden 
of the Lord ; speak of the position of Zoar. 

Carefully note Lot's solicitude to choose the best for 
himself, and lead them to fitly characterize his choice. 

Under the main subject — the separation — treat in the 
fourth place, the consequences. 

Show who would be the happier and why, by consid- 
ering the thoughts of both, and in addition consider the 
one important thing that Lot overlooked by referring to 
Gen. XIII. 13. "But the men of Sodom were wicked 
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." 

Then illustrate the misery of living with bad neigh- 
bors even amidst plenty; show the future troubles of 
Lot from war and from the destruction of Sodom, from 
both of which he was saved by Abram. Dwell upon 
the disposition this shows. 

See Gen. XIV. 1-16. 

Show that Abram remained where he was, contented, 
blessed still more and more, and call especial attention 
to the promise given him just after Lot's departure. 

Gen. XIII. 15-18. 

•' And the Lord said unto Abram after that Lot was 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 123 

separated from him, ' Lift up now thine eyes, and look 
from the place where thou art, northward and south- 
ward and eastward and westward, for all the lands 
which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed 
forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the 
earth, so that if a man can number the dust of tlie 
earth, then shall thy seed be numbered. Arise, walk 
through the land in the length of it and in the breadth 
of it, for I will give it unto thee." ' 

CONCLUSION. 

In conclusion fix clearly three thoughts. 

1. That one should live peaceably with all, especial- 
ly with brethren. Illustrate by their school-life and 
have them learn the following : 

Psalms CXXXIIL 
" Behold how^ood and how pleasant it is for brethren 
to dwell together in unity ! It is like the precious oint- 
ment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, 
even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his 
garments; as the dew of Hermon and the dew that de- 
scended upon the mountains of Zion ; for there the Lord 
commanded the blessing, even life forever more." 

Romans XII. 18. 
" If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peace- 
ably with all men." 

2. That those who know what is right ought to set a 
good example to others as Abram did. 

Illustrate by their school life and have them learn : 



124 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Matt. F. 16. 
" Let your light so shine before men, that they may 
see your good works and glorify your Father which is 
in heaven." 

3. That one should be generous and not selfish ; the 
one leading to happiness and the other to misery. 
Illustrate by their school life and have them learn : 

Matt. VII. 12. 
" Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men 
should do unto you, do ye even so unto them ; for this 
is the law and the prophets." 

Romans XII. 10. 
" Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly 
love; in honor preferring one another." 

EMBLEMS. 

1. Nature. 

Emblems are not only very numerous, but they con- 
vey all the encouragements, hopes, duties, and experi- 
ences of the Christian life ; while they are quickly and 
pleasantly learned and easily retained, from the concise- 
ness of their statement, the aptness of illustration, and 
the interesting associations suggested by them. There 
are no parts of Scripture, moreover, that more readily oc- 
cur to one, or are more welcome guests to the imagina- 
tion amidst the busy scenes of life. 

2. Examples. 

a. Old Testament. 

"The Lord is my Shepherd." 

" The name of the Lord is a strong tower." 

" We all do fade as a leaf." 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 125 



" As a hart panteth for the water-hrooks, so paiiteth 
my soul for Thee, God." 

" Keep me as the apple of Thine eye." 

" The righteous shall flourish as the palm tree." 

" I will be as the dew unto Israel." 

h. New Testament. 

" Ye are the salt of the earth." 

" All flesh is grass." 

" Put on the whole armor of God." 

3. Steps. 

The method with a lesson on a Scripture emblem is 
comprised of two steps : — 

«. The natural image or object of reference in the 
figure must first be fully illustrated in itself; as fully as 
is required for the use which is to be made of it. The 
length of the illustration will depend upon the nature 
of the object. 

Sometimes the image is exclusively oriental or trop- 
ical, as in " Ihe righteous shall flourish as the palm 
tree," in which case, since it would be remote from the 
experience of the pupil, detailed illustration would be 
required to bring it before him with anything of its orig- 
inal force. Sometimes again the image is, in itself, as 
significant to him as it was to those to whom it was 
originally addressed, as in "Ye are the salt of the 
earth." 

The more clearly and forcibly the image is impressed 
on the pupil's mind, the broader will be the foundation 
for the second step. 



126 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



h. The image should be given the spiritual interpre- 
tion. 

In this second step lies the greatest difficulty, which 
is the avoidance on the one hand of the presentation of 
the spiritual emblem in terms too vague to be of any 
practical value; on the other hand, an avoidance of an 
overstraininoj of the analogy, by pursuing it in direc- 
tions in which it does not hold; the effect of which is to 
weaken the force of the truth which the emblem incul- 
cates. 

4. Illustration. 

" I will be as the Dew unto Israel." 

Treat this under : 

a. Introduction. 

h. The natural image, the dew. 

c. The spiritual truth. — The blessing of God is like 
the dew. * 

d. The conclusion. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Under the introduction, the teacher might speak of a 
walk in the fields on a summer morning ; the surprise 
on finding the shoes all wet, on a clear, dry, warm 
morning; call attention to the cause of this — the dew; 
discuss the manner of its formation. 

NATURAL IMA'iE. 

Under the natural image, consider, first, the refreshing 
power of the dew. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 127 

Sh<:)w that among other thinsrs. moisture, obtained 
principally from rain, is re<^uired for the growth of 
plants ; that sometimes, however, there are long and hot 
dry seasons in which the plants would be scorched ; 
lead the pupils to see that moisture is required fre- 
quently and regularly, and that while the gardener 
might water the delicate flower, this would be impossi- 
ble with the grass and grain of the wide fields ; but that 
this office is filled by the gentle dew by keeping all 
vegetation fresh, green and full of sap, when otherwise 
it would wither and die. 

Speak then, of the rainy and dry seasons of the East 
and the greater strength of the sun's heat there, and the 
longer drought : show that therefore, a greater amount 
of dew is there re<:[uired, and that it is deposited in 
greater quantities ; so much greater that often little 
water-courses are fiUed with it. as they are in our regions 
after a rain, and tell how much in such countries the 
dew is valued. 

Under the natural image, consider in the second 
place, the silent action of the dew. 

Call the attention of the pupils to the ract that even 
when they are busy at home or at school, they can 
know of the coming and presence of niin, fi*om seeing it, 
or from the sound of the drops, but even were they 
watching, they could not notice the coming of the dew; 
but that in the morning they may know of its presence ; 
picture to them the dew as collecting gradually, silently 
and invisibly on the plants. 



128 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



SPIRITUAL TRUTH. 

Under the spiritual truth consider, first, the idea that 
the blessing of God is like the dew. 

Call attention again to the languishing flowers, and 
show that animals and people also languish, and require 
rest to refresh them. Present the idea that human 
beings have things to weary them other than toil, i. e. 
pain, anxiety and grief, from various causes, and that 
time and the comfort of friends tend to relieve them 
from these. 

Then consider another cause of weariness and anxie- 
ty — the sense of sin or wrong-doing in their relations to 
God. Illustrate how this oppresses them when they 
afterwards reflect upon it. Lead them to see that God, 
as their Heavenly Father, will refresh them and make 
them glad and hopeful again, just as the plants are re- 
vived and refreshed by the dew. 

Under the spiritual truth consider in the second 
place, the idea that God's blessings come in silence, like 
the dew. 

Call attention to some of the chief blessings of life, 
and show that some people do not look upon them as 
blessings at all, but as things that belong to them. Con- 
sider God's promises to those in distress, and show that 
he fulfills them and sends his gifts upon all, as the dew 
comes invisibly and in silence. 

CONCLUSION. 

Under the conclusion, lead the pupils to see that all 
should be animated by the feelings of love, reverence, 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 129 

and obedience toward the Heavenly Father, and that 
they should look to Him in all difficulties and look with 
confidence. Consider the advantages of being His 
people. See 

Hosea XIV. 1-7. 

"0 Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou 
hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words 
and turn to the Lord, say unto Him, 'Take away all 
iniquity and receive us graciously, so will we render the 
calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will 
not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to 
the work of our hands, Ye are our gods ; for in Thee 
the fatherless findeth mercy. I will heal their backslid- 
ing, 1 will love them freely, for mine anger is turned 
away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel; 
he shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Leb- 
anon. His branches shall spread and his beauty shall 
be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They 
that dwell under the shadow shall return ; they shall 
revive as the corn and grow as the vine ; the scent there- 
of shall be as the wines of Lebanon." 

Read and explain the above seven verses and cause 
the pupils to learn the last three. (See Stow's Bible 
Emblems.) 

parables. 

1. Nature. 

It would be somewhat difficult to give any definition 
of a parable to which reasonable exception might not 
be taken, on account of the great variety of construc- 
tion existing among the compositions which pass under 



130 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

that name. But if such a definition could be framed 
it would not greatly serve the present purpose, which is 
not so much to find the correct theory of their structure 
as it is to determine the best method of presenting them 
so as to bring out their full force and beauty. 

The method of teaching the parables ought to be 
made both interesting and instructive. 

The parables themselves are interesting, because the 
mind, even of the unenlightened, readily apprehends 
and retains such representations as they embody, from 
their dealing with things similar to those of actual 
experience. The Son of God addressed them to audi- 
ences which were often ignorant, and when not ignorant, 
unfriendly — if not openly hostile; yet it is evident, from 
various indications, that interest and attention were 
always aroused when He spoke in parables. 

Much more are they suited to enlist the interest and 
attention of children, who always turn from the abstract 
to the concrete, from the general principle to the par- 
ticular action embodying it. 

The parables, besides being interesting, are always in- 
structive. They are devoted to unfolding the great 
moral duties of religion, the performance of which is at 
once the test and end of true religion. They all have 
an extremely practical purpose, and they are wonder- 
fully fertile in suggestions. It is not only their one 
leading lesson that is enforced on us ; numerous inci- 
dental lessons spring up as we advance from part to 
part of the narration. Moreover, they are all as appli- 
cable to present circumstances as to the circumstances. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 131 



of those to whom they were first addressed. None of 
them are obsolete; all are as fresh as when they fell 
from the Hps of the Great Teacher. They rouse our 
sympathies as much as they did those of the men of 
olden times. And they will arouse the sympathies of 
men under any of the conditions of human Hfe as much 
as they do ours, because the incidents they build upon 
occur in the life of every society and because the ele- 
ments of character and the affections to which they 
appeal are the same at all times and in all places. 

2. Steps. 

In indicating the lines which the method should fol- 
low, it will be sufficient to notice the one leading fea- 
ture of the parable, i.e., that it has two distinct aspects;— 
the one literal and the other figurative and spiritual; and 
that the spiritual is conveyed by the analogy of the 
literal representation. 

Viewed in the one light, a parable is a story, setting 
forth some incident in nature or in human life, real or 
imaginary, and having an interpretation complete in 
itself. 

Viewed in the other light, it is the language of symbol, 
teaching duty to God and man. 

In the presentation of the parable, the steps are there- 
fore two:— 

a. To make clear the literal idea. 

b. To present the spiritual truth of which the literal 
idea is the symbol. 

All explanations necessary to the comprehension of 
the incidents should be given in connection with the 



132 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

first steps; e.g., explanations in regard to the geography 
of the scene, or the manners and customs to which ref- 
erence is made — that they may not afterwards interrupt 
the interpretation. 

This first step ought to possess the merit of being 
clear and graphic, so as to impress the pupil's imagi- 
nation. 

In the second step — the presentation of the spiritual 
truth — the stor}^ should be taken part by part, and each 
portion have clearly attached to it the spiritual meaning 
of which it is the symbol. 

In dealing with the parable, as well as in dealing with 
the emblem, there are two dangers pecuUar to the second 
step. 

The first, as before, is vagueness, arising generally from 
the teacher's not apprehending with sufficient clearness 
and force the precise aim of the parable. This will lead 
to the attempt to make it teach a great many things ; 
l)ut it will result in causing it to teach nothing in par- 
ticular. 

The second danger, as ])efore also, is an overstraining 
of the analogy, which results from pressing the story too 
far into detail, which will result in a distortion of the 
spiritual truth, when the attempt is made to carry out 
the parallel between it and the literal side. If the para- 
ble has been well illustrated in the first step, as it should 
be, the reflections which it suggests will be such that no 
minute or indirect inference will be justified. The over- 
ruling point in connection with the second step is to see 
that the spiritual truth is distinctly and impressively 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 133 

brought forth. The test of success in teaching the para- 
ble is the force and clearness with which the practical 
conclusions, which are deduced from it, are brought to 
bear on the home and school surroundings of the pupils. 

It is to but little purpose that the story is graphically 
presented in the first step, or that the inferences drawn 
from it in the second step are just, if the duty which it 
is designed to impress is^not brought to bear with clear- 
ness and force upon the consciences of the pupils. 

Let the teacher habitually lead them to look upon the 
truth which the parable conveys as a truth to be receiv- 
ed into their hearts, and to be held there as a life-long 
influence. 

'I'o aid in this, as a concluding step, the parable should 
be committed to memory. 

3. Illustration. 

Matt. XIII. 33. 

" Another parable spake He unto them : ' The king- 
dom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took 
and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was 
leavened.' " 

Luke XIII 20-21. 

"And again He said: ' Whereunto shall I liken the 
kingdom of God? It is like leaven which a woman 
took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole 
was leavened.' " 

Treat the parable, as the emblem, under four heads: — 

a. The introduction. 

h. The story, or literal part. 

c. The interpretation, or the spiritual part. 

d. The conclusion, or the practical part. 



134 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Under the introduction, first question the pupils on 
materials used in bread-making and the process of mak- 
ing th^ dough ; call .especial attention to an additional 
element and its office — the yeast or leaven ; — note its 
effect — a change next morning in the dough in appear- 
ance and taste, in every part and particle. 

Under the introduction, in the second place, read the 
parable. 

THE STORY. 

Under the story or literal part, call attention to the 
meaning of "/w<i," the amount of flour or meal, and 
show how much three measures were and that this was 
the quantity commonly used. See. 

Gen. XVIII. 6. 

"And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, 
and said, ' Make ready quickly three measures of fine 
meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.' " 

Speak then of the use of water, and then of the leaven, 
noting specially that the change requires time, and by 
referring to the introduction illustrate the nature of the 
change, dwelling upon the ideas that it is both gradual 
and complete, 

INTERPR^ATION. 

Under the interpretation, or spiritual meaning, con- 
sider first, the change. Show that by a change in the 
dough is meant a spiritual change in ourselves ; try to 
lead the pupils to see in a general sense, what that 
change must be ; by appealing to their experience, show 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 135 



that all at times do wrong, illustrating by referring to 
particular acts or thoughts, and that therefore all are 
sinful ; show how a Father of infinite love and kind- 
ness must regard this, and that before we can come into 
harmony with Him, and accomplish the purpose of our 
lives, we must be changed, just as the dough must be 
changed before it becomes bread. 

Under the interpretation, or spiritual meaning, con- 
sider, in the second place, the cause of the change. Show, 
first, that it is likened to the leaven, and that, therefore, 
the ''kingdom of heaven'' must mean something felt on 
earth among men, for Jesus was speaking of men; con- 
vey the idea that it is the love of God in our hearts, or 
the love and kindness toward all, which animates us; 
refer to the love the pupils bear to their parents and 
brothers and sisters, showing how it influences their 
whole home conduct, giving, if possible, some illustra- 
tion ; so, if we feel love and reverence toward God we 
shall do what will meet with His approval, and shall be 
kindly disposed toward all. 

Under the interpretation, or spiritual meaning, con- 
sider, in the third place, the idea that the change is 
gradual. Lead the pupils to think of the appearance of 
the dough, if it were examined at short intervals after 
the leaven was put in; show that the woman had to wait 
for the change, not in doubt, but certain that it would 
occur in time. From this go to the thought that no one 
can change himself all at once, referring to some habit 
to illustrate the difficulty of changing and the time 
needed : advancing the idea that if we are animated by 



136 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

love and reverence toward God, and growing out of that, 
by kindness for all, we shall be changed by degrees, first 
one bad habit and then another ; first one bad thought 
and then another, as life passes along, until the change 
is entire, impressing the idea that however slow and im- 
perceptible, it is, under those circumstances, sure. 

Under the interpretation, or spiritual meaning, con- 
sider, in the fourth place, the idea that the change is 
complete. Lead the pupils to think of the condition of 
the dough when the woman came back to it, showing 
that so entire was the change that even those portions 
farthest from the center where the leaven was put in, 
had been changed; enforce the idea that this must be 
the nature of the change in us ; that every bad act, bad 
word, bad thought, even the secret ones, must be given 
up. 

CONCLUSION. 

Under the conclusion, or practical part, show first, 
that all need to be changed ; that all can obtain the 
thing needed to change us ; that it is love and reverence 
for the Heavenly Father, alone, which can make the 
change, and that therefore all ought to seek to know 
Him, and to love and reverence, and to obey Him. 

Under the conclusion, or practical part, show, in the 
second place, what our conduct will be if we are ani- 
mated by love and reverence for Him ; that we shall 
avoid sinful acts, and shall grow better day by day. 
(See Trench on The Parables. ) 

The following, prepared by the teachers of the respective 
grades in the Training School, indicates the work in opening 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 137 



exercises as given by them: It will be seen that the work 
bears upon conduct in all three relations. 

FIRST AND SECOND GRADES. 

The Opening Exercises in a primary school should be short, 
suited to the child's comprehension, varied from day to day 
and sufficiently interesting to hold the complete attention. 

The great object in view will be defeated if the child is made 
to feel that he is receiving moral instruction ; it is not necessary 
that each selection read or story told should be " pointed with 
a moral." Let the story be tofd in simple, forcible language ; 
let the selection be from an honest, consistent author who un- 
derstands the child's nature and needs, and the moral will im- 
press itself without aid. 

Those exercises should be employed w^hich have in view both 
instruction and moral training. 

Collect a series of facts and anecdotes from the lives of good 
people, each of which shall teach some important lesson, such 
as :— patience, truthfulness, bravery, kindness to people and 
animals, self-denial, heroism, patriotism, generosity, etc. If 
possible obtain a reliable picture of the person who forms the 
subject of the lesson. Let the children handle it if it be small ; 
if large, hang it upon the wall where it can be easily seen. 
(Harper's Weekly will occasionally furnish a portrait. Holi- 
day catalogues of books will do the same.) 

While the portrait and name are becoming familiar, relate the 
anecdotes or facts selected. If an author forms the subject of 
the sketch, read from his writings. Thus the children will 
associate the face, the character and the product of his pen. 

Such characters may be selected as : 

George Washington, Putnam, Benjamin Franklin, J. G. 
Whittier, H. W. Longfellow, Abraham Lincoln, Hans Ander- 
sen, Louise Alcott, Mary Mapes Dodge, Lucy Larcom, etc 

At the proper time there may be associated with their author 
the "Scrap Bag" stories, chapters from "Little Men" and 



138 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 



** Little Women;" " Merry Rhymes and Jingles " with Mary 
Mapes Dodge ; " Fairy Tales," with Hans Andersen. 

Whittier and Lucy Larcom have each a collection of poems 
for children. 

A series of articles entitled " Stories About Favorite Au- 
thors " in " Our Little Men and Women," will he found useful. 
" Babyland," " St. Nicholas," " Wide-Awake," and the " Inde- 
pendent " will furnish good material, as will "Our Children's 
Songs," a book of carefully selected poems. From the study of 
the characters suggested, the attention may be turned to the 
life of Christ, as presented in the New Testament. The study 
may begin with His childhood and the interest be heightened by 
a description of the manners and customs of the time an differ- 
ing from our own. Having studied Him, His words and teach- 
ings will gain additional interest. The Lord's Prayer should 
be explained, and committed by the pupils. Many of the 
parables can be understood and their truth impressed. 

A series of texts (arranged in alphabetical order to assist the 
memory) may be taught the pupils, each text being the sub- 
ject of a lesson or a series of lessons. The meaning of the text 
should be thoroughly understood by the pupils before it is 
formulated, otherwise, it is often true, the words alone remain 
in the memory, and are like an empty shell, the rich kernel 
being overlooked. 

Through these texts may be taught: — 

Love to God, to parents, to all things created. 

That we must obey Him if we wish Him to love us. 

That He wishes us to love Him. 

That we must be honest in thought, word and deed, etc. 

THIRD AND FOURTH GRADES. 

The opening exercises consist of singing devotional songs, 
repetition of the Lord's Prayer, Bible verses, alphabetically 
arranged, alternating with the Twenty-third Psalm or Ten 
Commandments and the morning lesson. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 139 



The Lord's Prayer and the psalm may be sung as a chant for 
variety. 

1. Bible verses : 

These verses are selected by the pupils in the following man- 
ner: — 

Each child is prepared, on a certain day, with a Bible verse 
beginning with "a." 

The children select the child's verse which they can most 
easily understand. 

Examples : — " A good name is rather to be chosen than great 
riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold." " Do 
unto others as you would have others do unto you." " Even a 
child is known by his doings, whether his works be pure, or 
whether they be right." " Lying lips are abomination to the 
Lord, but they that speak truly are his delight." 

After the selection has been made the pupils are allowed to 
give their own thought of its meaning. 

The teacher, by illustration, makes the meaning more plain. 

Illustration : — " Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her 
ways, and be wise; which, having no guide, overseer or ruler, 
provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in 
the harvest." 

Lead pupils to observe the ant-hill ; tell them about its won- 
derful structure, its builders, their queen, workers and war- 
riors. 

Give a vivid picture of the sluggard. 

Lead the pupils to apply the meaning to themselves. 

The work on the ant can be done for rest work on the pre- 
vious day. 

2. Morning lesson : 

This lesson consists in a portion of a Bible story, read or told 
by the teacher, in simple attractive language. 

Last year the teacher selected one story for each month, 
occasionally changing the story for a parable or emblem, or had 
the children select and commit verses containing certain 



140 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



thoughts ; as love, truth, obedience, etc Birthday verses, the 
longest and shortest verse, also give pleasing variety. 

3. Manner of procedure : 

a. Read or narrate a portion of the story. 

h. Question pupils on the leading points. 

c. Lead the pupils to give their own thoughts of its mean- 
ing and application. 

d. Write upon the board the Bible precept found in or sug- 
gested by the lesson. 

e. After the entire story has been given, let the children 
give or write the story, and its lesson to them. 

Each day allow one or more of the pupils to give the story of 
the previous day, in order that they may more plainly see the 
connection between the old and the new. Show pictures rep- 
resenting the scene, when possible. Make all descriptions 
vivid and real. 

The following stories were taken last year in the order 
given : — 

1. The Garden and Its Inhabitants. 

2. Joseph and His Brethren. 

3. The Wandering Children of Israel. Balaam's Parables. 

4. Gideon. 

5. Samson, Samuel and Saul. 

6. The Shepherd Boy that Became a King. 

7. Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Emblem — Consider 
the lilies, etc. 

8. Queen Esther. 

9. Daniel. 

10. The Great Teacher. 

The following gives the division of the first story for each day 
of the month : 

The Garden and Its Inhabitants. 

a. Description, as given beautifully by Rothingham, in his 
" Stories of the Patriarchs." 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOI . 141 



b. Outside the Gate. 

c. Quarrel of the First Brothers. 

d. Death of Abel. Cain's Flight. 

e. The Ark and the Flood. 
/ Tower of Babel. 

g. Abraham's Childhood. 

h. Abraham's Journey. 

?'. Visit of the Angels. 

j. Destruction of Sodom. 

k. Lot's Escape. 

I. Sacrifice of Isaac. 

m. Isaac's Two Sons, 

n. Jacob Cheats Esau of His Birthright. 

0. Jacob Receives His Father's Blessing. 

p. Jacob's Flight. 

q. His Dream. 

r. History of the Twenty Years He Remained with His 
Uncle. 

s. His Return. 

t. Meeting of tl^e Brothers. 

u. Review and Application to Us. 

The stories were given in this order, that pupils might study 
them in connection with the country in which they were lo- 
cated. " The Children of Israel " were studied at this time be- 
cause the Third Grade were studying and moulding the penin- 
sula of Arabia. The Fourth Grade were studying and mould- 
ing Africa.— The desert, where the "Israelites wandered forty 
years," " the place where they were supposed to have crossed 
the Red Sea," " the mount where Moses received the Ten 
Commandments," and "Egypt" could be located; thus adding 
interest to both story and country. 

In the study of Daniel a description of Babylon, its walls, 
gates, towers, and hanging gardens make it more real. Repre- 
senting the position of the armies, in sand, when David killed 
Goliath, will add interest, also. 



142 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



Some books, valuable for their simple, attractive language 
and illustrations: — "Stories of the Patriarchs," "Joseph and 
His Brethren," "Line Upon Line," "Precept Upon Precept," 
''Stories of David," "Ben Hur," extracts from ''Near Home 
and Far Off," " Description of Jerusalem," " John, the Bap- 
tist," " Christ's Teachings and Death." 

FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES. 

In opening exercises the subject of behavior affords many 
fruitful topics for conversations. 

As to place, the work should include the behavior of the 
child : 

1 . In the school-room. 

2. On the play-ground. 

3. On the street. 

4. At home. 

5. In railway cars and other public places. 

By questions and illustrations, the children are led to see 
that behavior in the school-room includes obedience, honesty, 
silence, industry, kindness, neatness, politeness, punctual- 
ity, etc. 

In considering each of these topics, the meaning of the term 
should be understood. The children may refer to dictionaries 
for meaning, and the teacher, by illustrations and otherwise, 
may assist in making the meaning clear. 

To whom and by whom must obedience be rendered in the 
school-room, and why, may be discussed by the children, the 
teacher leading in the discussion. 

Illustrations may be called for, and the children will cite 
many instances where the law* of obedience is violated. 

After discussing this law in a general way, the teacher may 
ask for individual experiences ; as, How many of you ever vio- 
lated the law of obedience in the school-room ? Probably all 
will raise hands, but if not, call upon those who are ready and 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 143 



willing to speak of their own faults, and the others will reach 
that point sooner or later. 

In like manner, each of the above topics may be discussed 
from day to day, as time permits. 

The interest will be greatly enhanced by calling upon pupils 
to decide whether an illustration given is right or wrong, and 
by calling especial attention to those that are particularly good. 

Of course the accuracy of the statement, and of the language 
used must be noticed in every case. 

After the discussion of all or many of these laws, the chil- 
dren will readily see that a single act may be a violation of 
several laws. 

If a pupil whispers to his neighbor he has violated the fol- 
lowing laws : Obedience, silence, politeness, kindness, and 
honesty. The children will probably see, and give all these. 
But if one does not see just how obedience or some other law 
mentioned has been violated, some one else may explain to 
him. 

Following this, illustrations may be given by pupils, and the 
school decide how many and what laws are violated. 

When all of these topics are carefully discussed with refer- 
ence to the school-room, the children may be called upon to 
decide which of these will apply to the play -ground, which, if 
any, shall be discarded, and whether any new topics may be 
added. 

The same plan may be followed with regard to the other 
places mentioned. 

The benefits of such discussions are manifold. 

1. The children themselves are led to decide upon a course 
of action to be followed out. 

2. They become conscious that every action they put forth 
is in obedience to or in violation of law, and they will thus be 
led to reflect upon what they do before the deed is done. 

3 The results of the violations of these laws will be care- 



144 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



fully traced in many cases, and the children are led to see that 
the deed returns to the doer. 

4. They learn to discriminate and judge for themselves, and 
to rely upon themselves ; thus making the school, in a great 
measure, control itself. 

Other exercises are : 

1. The studying and committing of beautiful poems. 

2. Investigation of Scripture texts. 

3. Consideration of Bible stories, etc. 

II. CONDUCT IN RELATION TO SELF. 

Human responsibility is the fundamental principle 
of morals, or conduct. As a special being of nature, it 
is the duty of the individual to realize in himself the 
ideal of humanity; this demands the use of his natural 
being as a means, and not as an end. 

1. He must foster and preserve his physical organ- 
ism. 

2. He must learn to absorb his whole endeavor in 
the pursuit of a rational end — some particular avoca- 
tion in life. 

o. He must confine his gratification of the natural 
wants within proper limits, and learn to sacrifice them 
for higher duties. 

4. Through this self-control he must strive for self- 
culture, sacrificing his natural being for his spiritual 
being. 

These duties to self, apparently immediate, are how- 
ever, only contingent upon broader duties which he 
owes to others. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



145 



III. CONDUCT IN RELATION TO OTHERS. 

The individual is not able to achieve his highest end 
and aim directly through himself, but only through 
combination with his fellow-men. This combination 
has four stages : 

1. The family. 

2. The church. 

3. Social and business society. 

4. The state ; including the school as an instrument 
of the state. 

Conduct in the sphere of the church is considered 
here, as previously given, only in so far as the school 
prepares the child to enter upon the relations involved 
in the church, as a higher institution. 

1. Within the family the interest of each is that of all 
in a special natural sense. The reciprocal duties of 
parents and children, of brothers and sisters, of husband 
and wife form a special code distinguished from other 
spheres of morality by its close connection with natural 
impulse ; affection and reverence form its foundation. 
In this sphere isolated interest is vicious and immoral ; 
the community is the unit. A transition from the 
family to civil society is found in polite society wherein 
there prevails the tone of the family elevated to a gen- 
eral demeanor. The essence of politeness consists in 
persistently treating the special individual with whom 
one has relations, as an ideal being. Every human be- 
ing has in himself the possibility of ideal humanity. 
Polite conduct consists in regulating one's behavior 
toward him by this ideal. Consequently politeness re- 



146 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

quires us to ignore all personal defects, not alluding to 
our own^or to those of others ; even rudeness toward 
us passes unnoticed and receives only courteous treat- 
ment in return. Within the family and within polite 
society these unselfish and refined manners must pre- 
vail. It is not however sufficient for the human spirit 
that it remain within such limits. They serve only as 
polish to human actions which penetrate deeper the 
essence of personality. 

2. In civil society proper we have combination by 
means of division of labor and commerce. Each works 
for himself and has in so far a selfish end ; but he 
achieves it through devoting himself to the gratification 
of some want of his fellow-men. Thus his selfishness 
is meditated, and its quality changed. In the field of 
productive industry the individual does not any longer 
act from tlie impulse of affection, or pity; he helps oth- 
ers as the organized means of self-aggrandizement; he 
does not treat others as abstract ideals merely (the po- 
lite world) ; but he treats them as free personal units 
concretely realized in the ownership of property. The 
fact of realization of personality through property gives 
an externality to the whole code of duties belonging to 
civil society. One man deals with another as abstract 
legal person in business transactions which form the 
real practical interest. Honesty and integrity, prudence 
and policy, puiictuality and regularity are the cardinal 
virtues here. 

3. In the state mere natural affection and courtesy to 
the ideal — the principles of the family and polite society 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



147 



—as well as the pursuit of individual gain, which finds 
its sphere in civil society, are subordinated to an actual 
ideal, that of justice. Man is here complemented so 
that whatsoever he does returns through the state to 
himself and he becomes actually free and self-deter- 
mined. What polite society assumes and makes into an 
appearance, is in the state realized as an actual, but in 
such a way that complete responsibility attaches to the 
individual. 

In these spheres of ethics there lies at the basis the 
fundamental idea of the distinction of man as a natural 
being (mere animal) from man as human (elevated into 
his ideal through culture). Thus the fundamental basis 
is SELF-SACRIFICE, employing as its conviction resfonsi- 
bility, i. e. the insight into the necessity of its own 
agency in attaining its true self by the suppression of its 
natural appetites. Self-control, self-denial, temperance, 
neatness, cleanliness, self-respect, — these are various 
species tliat fall immediately under this general cate- 
gory. In the practice of duty, obedience is the first 
condition : obey the higher, repress the lower. In obe- 
dience, reference is had to what is external. But it is 
the external, to mere natural being only. Obedience is 
the mediation by which the true self is realized and 
the illusive self of mere natural impulse renounced. 
Obedience has several phases : 

a. PunctttaUty or conformity to the external require- 
ments of time and place. 

b. Order and regularity — conformity to the rhythm 
that governs external things. 



148 . THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

c. Perseverance — conformity to purpose. 

d. Earnestness — conformity of outward endeavor to 
inward resolution. 

e. Justice — conformity to the universal (self-meas- 
ured) standard of action. 

/. Truthfulness — conformity of utterance (speech and 
behavior) to reality. 

g. Industry — conformity of activity to the channels 
prescribed by society so that what one does is directly 
for others, indirectly for one's self 

Obedience is the general mode of this conformity of 
the individual to general rules, laws, and prescribed 
forms of activity. This is one side of self-sacrifice. 
The other side of self-sacrifice is kindness in its varied 
species included under the terms of sympathy, forbear- 
ance, considerateness, mercy, benevolence, charity, phi- 
lanthropy. Kindness is akin to politeness and cour- 
tesy, in that it looks upon the human being as embody- 
ing the ideal of humanity, no matter what forms he 
wears; but it differs from courtesy and is superior to it, 
in that it sees also the real, its imperfections and limi- 
tations. It does not merely, like justice in the state, 
hold up in the face of each, the mirror of his deed, but 
regards this as no ultimatum and affirms the ideal to be 
the true final aim and destiny of the individual, to 
whom it offers aid and comfort. It seeks to remove the 
imperfections and limitations of humanity without in- 
jury to the individual. Justice does not respect particu- 
larity — kindness does respect it. In kindness or love 
the universal is carried into the particular (descends 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 149 



into it) without destroying it, but with the design of 
drawing up to it the latter. Kindness therefore is the 
moral duty that approaches nearest to religion and 
forms the connecting link> with it. 

4. To cultivate behavior the school presents a wide 
field for the pupil's activity. The school is a little 
world in which the pupils devise and carry out schemes 
as in the world without, in which individual interests 
are often concurrent, and not seldom in opposition ; but 
where both the concurrence and the opposition give rise 
to indefinite activity. 

There are constant opportunities for embodying in ac- 
tion the virtues of truthfulness, justice, and benevolence, 
or for being swayed by their opposites. 

The virtues to be manifested toward superiors are 
drawn out in the respect and obedience exacted by the 
teacher, or give place to the opposite vices of insolence 
and insubordination. 

In the performance of duty, the moral qualities of 
diligence and resolution may be steadily fostered ; or the 
opposite vices of idleness and sluggishness, while the 
routine of the school may be gone through either with 
punctuality or the reverse. The teacher's duty with 
respect to this activity of the school in all of its phases 
is to regulate it and increase it. 

He sees it to a great extent manifested in the course 
of engagements conducted by himself or under his 
superintendence; he can control its defects, and can 
point the way to such improvement as is practicable. 
Much of it comes to his knowledge through report, or 



150 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 



through casual inquiry. But in great measure it goes 
on beyond the teacher's observation, and in a sphere 
over which he has no direct control. In the play- 
ground this activity of the school exercises its greatest 
influence for good or for evil. If the spirit that presides 
there is in conformity with his, then its intercourse is 
for good ; if any there retain in their hands a command- 
ing influence over their companions, but of a different 
tendency, the activity of the school will develop into 
bad habits. The teacher can only control it in this 
sphere by establishing in the school a sound 'public 
opinion, the reflex oj his own, which shall make itself felt 
every where — a difficult task, and only to be accom- 
plished by him who has the interest oj his pupils at heart, 
and who to that benevolence adds the force of character 
and tact of management necessary to secure personal 
ascendency over others. But difficult as it may be, it 
must be accomplished, if the teacher would have his 
influence constantly at work on his pupils. When there 
is a bad state of feeling in school between teacher and 
pupils, their activity will be restrained and insincere in 
his presence ; they will be afraid to act, and thus reveal 
their sentiments to him whom they mistrust. This bad 
relation will usually carry with it an unsatisfactory re- 
lation among the pupils themselves ; restrained by no 
central influence they will be apt to separate, according 
to their several interests, into parties having no good 
will toward one another, and thus the malevolent dis- 
positions will be stimulated into preponderating activity. 
The teacher is responsible for establishing confidence 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 



151 



between the pupils and himself, and among the pupils 
toward one another, under the genial influences of 
which the right activity may spring up and gain 
strength, and the wrong wither away for the want of 
room for its display. 

The main difference between the family and the 
school as places of moral instruction is this : That in 
the former the parent sees precisely what is wanting to 
the child's knowledge from having him so constantly in 
his presence and observing his conduct. The family 
instruction is therefore more spontaneous and better 
regulated to the necessities of the case than that of the 
school can ever be ; for the teacher must, in the nature 
of things, proceed less by special requirements at the 
moment than by consideration of the general training 
which the pupil will require to fit him for life. But 
this comparative disadvantage under which the teacher 
labors only supplies an additional reason why he should 
strive, with all the resources of his art, to make the in- 
struction he gives the more impressive ; and he. is not 
altogether without compensation. 

The more formal teaching of a school may, to a con- 
siderable extent, be supplemented by such instruction 
as is naturally ehcited from the incidents of the family- 
circle. There are school cases equally with family 
cases which the teacher has the means of observing ; 
and, if he observe at all, he will find a greater variety of 
them than any one family is likely to supply, illustra- 
tive of both virtues and vices. His object should be to 
turn them to the benefit of the school, which has, more 



152 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

or less, been witness of them. If he cannot do this 
without exposure of individual pupils, he cannot prof- 
itably do it all. If he does it with direct and recog- 
nized personal reference he will be suspected both by 
the pupil and by the school of doing it with personal 
motives, either with the view of establishing his author- 
ity or of gratifying his dislikes. But the judicious 
teacher will find it by no means impossible to handle 
cases in an indirect way so that all his statements shall 
seem to be made quite incidentally, and, indeed, to be 
naturally suggested by the train of his story, so that the 
allusions shall never be suspected of personal intention. 
The penetration into their experience which the skilful 
management of such cases shows, will affect them with 
a power which no other channel of instruction can at- 
tain. Virtues should be illustrated this way as well as 
vices; it is in every way desirable that he should show 
the same insight in dealing with the one as in dealing 
with the other, and that he should appear zealous and 
gratified to recognize the good that may be done in 
school, as well as ready to reprimand the evil. The 
observant teacher will see from this how much he will 
gain in influence as an educator by any intimate ac- 
quaintance he may set himself to acquire of the school 
life. 

(See Abbott's teacher). 

The first requisite of the school is order: each pupil 
must be taught first and foremost to conform his beha- 
vior to a general standard. Only thus can the school as 
a community exist and fulfill its functions. In the out- 



THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 153 

set therefore a group of virtues are taught the pupil, 
and these are taught so thoroughly, and so constantly 
enforced, that they become fixed in his character. The 
method of this moral training is, like that which rules 
everywhere in the practical world, one of division and 
repetition. The duty of being a well-behaved pupil is 
not a vague generality. It divides into specific, well- 
defined duties : 

a. Punctuality: The pupil must be at school in 
time. Sleep, meals, play, business, indisposition— all 
must give way to the duty of obedience to the external 
requirement of time. Punctuality does not end with 
getting to school. While in school it is of equal im- 
portance. Combination cannot be achieved without it. 
The pupil must have his lessons ready at the appointed 
time, must rise at the tap of the bell, move to the line, 
return; in short, go through all the evolutions with 
equal precision. 

b. Regularity is punctuality reduced to a system. 
Conformity to the requirement of time in a particular 
instance is punctuality ; made general it becomes regu- 
larity. Combination in school rests on these two vir- 
tues. They are the most elementary ones of the moral 
code — its alphabet. Schools achieved a high rank in this 
respect only through the most persistent effort on the part 
of the teachers. The community submits to regulations 
patiently, but it may be doubted whether their import- 
ance is fully appreciated. This age is called the age of 
productive industry. It is the era of emancipation of 
each and every member of society from the drudgery 



154 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

of slavery to his natural wants. The emancipation is 
effected through machinery. Machinery during the past 
fifty years has quadrupled the efficiency of human in- 
dustry. With the same amount of labor each man may 
obtain four times the amount of food, clothing, and 
shelter, or for one-fourth of the labor necessary fifty 
years ago he may obtain as much, as the laborer of that 
period did. Achievement in this direction has but begun. 
In the future hovers the picture of a humanity so free 
on the side of its natural wants that its time is its own 
for spiritual culture. But there is one general training 
especially requisite for the generations of men who are 
to act as directors of machinery, and of business that 
depends upon it — this training is in the habits of punc- 
tuality and regularity. A human being may wait for 
the arrival of another, a machine will not make any 
allowance for subjective whims, or caprices, or failures 
in obedience to the laws of time and space. The fact that 
so much of labor depends upon machinery makes itself 
felt throughout all occupations of life. The necessity 
of conformity to the time of the train, to the starting of 
work in the manufactory, fixes the time for the minor 
affairs of life with absolute precision. Only by obedi- 
ence to these abstract external law^ of time and place 
may we achieve that social combination necessary to 
free us from degrading slavery to our physical wants 
and necessities. 

But the school makes these duties the ground and 
means of higher duties. They are indispensable, but 
no ultimatum. They render possible, higher spiritual 



THE THEORY OF THE S(MOOL. 155 

culture. The quick and prompt obedience of the pupil 
in simple mechanical training, renders the child pene- 
trable, and accessible to lessons of higher import. To 
this end the discipline extends to calisthenics : the pupil 
is taught to sacrifice his arbitr^fry control over his body 
and to combine regularly and punctually with others 
in imitating prescribed bodily gestures or exercises. 
Thus his sense of rhythm — or regular combination with 
others — is further developed. Through this becomes 
possible the training to general habits of proper posi- 
tion for sitting and standing, proper modes of speaking, 
addressing others ; in general, the formalities of polite 
intercourse. The highest discipline under the head of 
rhythm is reached in vocal music. This presupposes in 
the highest degree the training in punctual and regular 
habits, and a conscious participation in the result is 
reached by the pupil through his enjoyment of the har- 
mony he assists in producing. Here — in vocal music — 
the external, mechanical aspect of discipline softens, 
and a response to it is felt in the deepest inner being of 
the soul — the domain of feeling. This brings us to the 
next step in school discipline. 

c. Silence is the basis for the culture of internality 
or reflection — the soil in which thought grows. The 
pupil is therefore taught habits of silence : to restrain his 
natural animal impulse to prate and chatter, or to ex- 
cite attention by his occupation on the material world 
around him. All ascent above natural being arises 
through this ability to hold back the mind from utter- 
ance of the immediate impulse, and to correct its one- 



156 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



sidedness by combination and generalization. The 
largest combination and widest generalization is the 
deepest and truest. Thus silence in the school-room has 
a twofold significance. It is necessary to the attain- 
ment of combination with others, and besides this, it is 
a direct discipline in the art of combining the diffused 
and feeble efforts of the pupil himself. He begins his 
career with mental distraction, everything isolated in 
his mind, and learns to connect the scattered phases, 
classify and arrange them, and thus to generalize and 
reduce them. The first glance does not suffice ; it is the 
repetition of mental effort, the absorption of the mind 
that digests the multiplicity before it. This depends 
directly upon silence. The distraction of the mind 
consequent upon garrulity, or the occupation of any of 
the senses exclusively, prevents reflection. Silence al- 
lows the repose of the senses and the awakening of 
insight and reflection. In our schools this is carried 
further than merely negative silence and the pupil is 
taught the difficult but essential habit of absorption in 
his proper task even when a lively recitation is going on 
with another classs. He must acquire the strength of 
mind (of internality) which will enable him to pursue 
without distraction his train of thought and study, un- 
der any external conditions. Out of this discipline 
grow attention, memory, thought — the three factors of 
theoretic culture. The culture described thus far, is 
very formal although it is essential to all that follows. 
It is a great point to gain so much, and to gain it by 
proper means. A school discipline that secured this 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 157 

through harsh, rough means, through appeals to cor- 
poral punishment, would break down the deeper sense 
of honor in the pupil. 

The school therefore as its fourth virtue in the ascend- 
ing scale inculcates truthfulness. 

d. Truth is the basis of the duties of a man toward 
others. Truth makes free, says the old proverb. No 
positive relation with our fellowmen is possible except 
through truth. Untruth is the essence of discord. Earn- 
estness and sincerity, honesty and reliability are the vir- 
tues that rest directly on truthfulness. The vices found- 
ed on neglect of this duty are lying, deceit, hypocrisy, 
cheating, and all manner of fraud ; its effects on society 
are to produce suspicion and distrust among men and 
to stifle all spiritual relationship. It is a subtle poison 
that destroys the positive benefits that may be derived 
from the institutions of society. The virtue of truth- 
fulness is developed in a twofold way in the school- 
room. First, by the continual discipline of the recita- 
tion; the pupil is required to be accurate and compre- 
hensive in his statements; he is taught that suppression 
of essential particulars makes his statement false ; he is 
held strictly accountable to know what he says, i.e., to 
have a clear conception of what is involved in the words 
he uses. Very much of the untruth and consequent 
distrust among men arises in the first instance from lack 
of a clear insight into what was implied by the words 
used. It is only one step from a lie committed by mis- 
take to a lie on a purpose ; for to suffer the penalty for 
a supposed vice is a temptation to enjoy its supposed 



158 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

selfish advantages. Careful attention to the implica- 
tions of one's statements is the first step in the inculca- 
tion of truth ; and this can scarcely find a better disci- 
pline than in the properly conducted recitation. The 
second mode of securing truthfulness is the direct appli- 
cation of discipline to the behavior of the pupil. Any 
lack of truthfulness in the pupil reveals itself at once in 
his struggles to conceal his misdemeanors. It is an ob- 
ject of constant care on the part of the teacher to sup- 
press lying and dishonesty in whatever forms they may 
manifest themselves. The admonition of the teacher, 
the disgrace felt at exposure in presence of the class, are 
most powerful caustics to remove this moral disorder. 

e. The duty oi justice next follows that of truthful- 
ness and finds partly its presupposition in the latter. 
Justice can be taught only in a community. In a well- 
ordered community it grows spontaneously. A system 
of measure established, by which conformity to rule and 
right is rewarded by recognition, and all breach of dis- 
cipline met by prompt exposure, appeals constantly to 
the sense of justice and develops its normal exercise. A 
danger lies, however, in certain baneful practices some- 
times adopted by educators. On the supposition that 
the child cannot see the legitimate and healthy results 
of doing his duty he is offered a special reward for it. 
This goes far to sap the foundation of all morahty. The 
feeling of responsibility is the essence of virtue, and an 
extraneous reward held up as the end sought tends to 
destroy what little internal self-determination the pupil 
may possess. The distinction between the inclination 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 159 

(the "I want") of the child, and his true ideal nature 
(expressed in "I ought,") should be continually kept 
before the child and not confused by concealing the duty 
under some shape of immediate self-interest Doubt- 
less self-interest lies at the bottom of all virtue, for man 
is a self-related being ; but its circle is so large that no 
one can perceive its full return in an individual instance, 
and the only guide, at all safe, is duty pure and simple. 
The little community of the school-room, filled with 
fifty or sixty children presents a miniature world. There 
are children of the wealthy and of the indigent, children 
of talent, and children of slow, imprisoned intellects; 
some with quick theoretical, some with strong practical 
tendencies ; some with deep spiritual instincts, others 
with base brutal ones. External dress and carriage, and 
use of speech vary accordingly. Before the school-room 
ideal all prerogatives vanish and each is equal in that 
respect; the stanclard of comparison shall be the work 
done, its quality and its quantity. From the very outset 
the child learns to distinguish essential humanity from 
its accidental surroundings. Keenness of perception, 
moral integrity, practical sagacity, these are the trium- 
phant powers of the good school. Can there be a better 
soil for the growth of moral responsibility or a sense of 
justice? 

/. The highest virtue — kindness or love of mankind — 
like the sense of justice, requires a communitj^ for its 
culture — a community which, like the school, brings 
together all classes and conditions, and subjects them 
to the same trials and the same standard of success. 



160 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

The feeling of justice fostered by a constant oppor- 
tunity to see through the adventitious wrappings of 
social rank and condition and observe the real sub- 
stance of the character, prepares the basis for kindness. 
The discrepancy between good intent and deserts, which 
arouses childish sympathy most readily, is the first 
incitement. Justice proclaims that seeming and good 
intent are not sufficient — there must be adequate per- 
formance. If this principle did not prevail in society 
and the moral world at large, there would be no more 
strenuous exertion to growth ; the wish would be suffi- 
cient. But the good intention baffled of its actual frui- 
tion through inadequate performance is ever an object 
that excites deepest sympathy and commiseration in the 
kind heart. Not only the good intention is the object 
of kindness, but even the depraved and corrupt excites 
pity. The trials, that all are alike subjected to, reveal 
to each childish heart the temptations and struggles with 
passion and impulse, as well as the weakness of intellect 
and will that belong to his fellows. Broad human 
sympathy grows up under these conditions and a Chris- 
tian civilization finds in it its necessary presuppositions. 

The education of youth by means of private tutors 
essentially lacks the whole side of moral education, such 
as is found in the good school. 

(W. T. Harris, St. Louis Report of 1876). 



-^^^^^^^^f^^^ 



•r-^>^^\ 




CHAPTER VIII, 



SCHOLARSHIP. 



INTELLECT SENSIBILITY— will. 



METHOD. 



There is a best way of doing everytliiiig, if it be but to boil an egg. 

—Emerson. 

" In all things a man must beware of so conforming himself, as to crush 
his nature, and forego the purpose of his being. We must look to other 
standards than what men may say or think. We must not abjectly bow 
down before rules and usages ; but must refer to principles and purposes. We 
must think, not whom we are following, but what we are doing. If not, 
why are we gifted with individual life at all ? Uniformity does not consist 
with the higher forms of vitality. Even the leaves of the same tree are said 
to differ, each one from all the rest. And can it be good for the soul of a 
man with a biography of its own like to no one else's, to subject itself with- 
out thought to the opinions and ways of others ; not to grow into symmetry 
but to be moulded down into conformity?" 



METHOD IN READING. 

On entering school at the beginning of his sixth year, 
the child is possessed of a considerable store of ideas, 
in many cases vague and partial; the oral terms for 
most of his ideas ; a large array of thoughts ; the oral 
sentences for these, often incorrect ; power to recognize 
and name, in many cases, all or a part of the letters, 
and a few words ; power to produce all the sounds in 
their combinations, and most of them singly ; and the 



162 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

power of proper emphasis, inflection and modulation, 
as required by his own thought. 

The mind being an organism, it is of course true that 
in acquiring the above mentioned ideas, thoughts, ex- 
pressions and powers, all the mental faculties were 
called into action, some prominently, some slightly. 
Those prominently employed appear to be observation 
and association. 

The work of reading is to iweserve the power of proper 
emphasis, inflection and modulation ; to complete the 
knowledge of the alphabet ; to make the child conscious 
of the separate elementary sounds, and to give adequate 
power to produce them; to associate with the ideas, 
thoughts and oral expressions, their printed expression ; 
and to associate with new ideas and thoughts their oral 
and printed expressions. The work has several start- 
ing points, each connecting with the known, and the 
proper point of beginning cannot, therefore, be deter- 
mined by that relation alone. The different points of be- 
ginning have given rise to different systems which have 
been termed methods. Thus : beginning with what 
was known of the alphabet, completing that knowledge, 
passing by means of this into the study of syllables, 
words, and then of sentences, was known as the alpha- 
betic method ; passing from the oral word as a whole to 
the separate sounds, to the letters, to the printed word 
as a whole, and then to sentences, was called the phonic, 
or with certain modifications the phonetic method ; asso- 
ciating the oral word as a whole with the printed 
word as a whole, and then entering upon a study of 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 163 



sounds, letters and sentences, took the name of 
the word method ; making the thought the unit, 
and moving from thought to oral sentence, and 
thence in order to printed sentence, words, sounds, 
and letters, assumed the name sentence method. No one 
of these, however, constitutes a method of teaching 
reading. Each is a system, a part of the method. 

The central thought in each is association; each in its 
place is best. The things to be associated in reading 
are ideas and thoughts on the one hand with their 
printed symbols on the other. It is not the aim of 
reading to teach the printed word or the printed sen- 
tence, but to so associate them with the idea and the 
thought that they express, that the one shall instantly 
suggest the other. Each of these systems, in its proper 
relation, is an aid to the association of thought and ex- 
pression ; but each may be employed at such a time, 
and make such association as to be a hindrance to 
thought. The great point in reading work is to asso- 
ciate ideas and printed words, and thoughts and printed 
sentences, so as to make the pupil as little conscious of 
the printed words as he is of oral words when he is 
giving or receiving thought by means of them. The 
sole use of a word or sentence is to suggest an idea or 
thought. Unless they do this they are worse than use- 
less. But words and sentences have in themselves as 
forms no inherent power of suggesting ideas and 
thoughts, since they are arbitrary expressions. In order 
that they may at once suggest their ideas and thoughts, 
the association must from the first be direct, the weight 



164 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

of attention resting upon the thought side. " An irre- 
fragable law of didactics," says Comenius, "is that 
the understanding and the tongue should advance in 
parallel lines always." The cleavage idea in reading is 
that the printed expressions are to be associated with 
their ideas and thoughts so as to instantly suggest them, 
and yet be themselves in the background in conscious- 
ness, just as oral expressions do and are. 

Association being the essential act in learning to read, 
a consideration of the laws of association is requisite. 

The fundamental principle of association is that the 
mind tends to act again as it has acted. Subordinate to 
this is — if two things are presented to the mind at the same 
time, or in immediate succession, and one of them is after- 
ward presented, the tendency is for the other to appjear in con- 
sciousness. But this is only a tendency ; there is no ab- 
solute certainty that the one will present itself to the 
mind when the other does. This certainty is to be se- 
cured by the application of another law of association — 
other things being equal, those things that are most often 
brought together in consciousness are most strongly asso- 
ciated. 

Economy requires tliat this law should be supple- 
mented by two others: Other things being equal, those 
things that are brought together in consciousness with the 
greatest degree of emotion are most strongly associated. (If 
the emotion becomes absorbing^ however, the tendency 
to strong association is weakened). Other things being 
equal, those things that are held together in consciousness, 
most free from entangling relations, are most strongly asso- 
ciated. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 165 

The ideas to be mastered in reading, or the exercise- 
ground, should be, and should appear to the child to be 
a development from the basis, i.e., that which he already 
knows upon the subject. 

The thought that is to determine what means or de- 
vises are to be employed in teaching the child to read 
is — whether the given device or means will aid the asso- 
ciation of the thought and expression. 

The development of the mind is thus presented by 
Porter : 

" The development of the mind begins with the beginnings of 
attention. Before this, its activities are, as it were, rudimental 
only. From this condition the mind awakes when some object 
attracts and holds its attention. The infant's power to know 
begins to be developed when it begins to attend. As soon as 
the infant begins to notice, its vacant countenance assumes the 
expression of intelligence, and is lighted with the dawn of 
intellectual activity. Attention gives discrimination, and dis- 
crimination implies objects discriminated. The first objects 
distinguished are objects of sen^e. The sensible objects that are 
first mastered are those which relate to its wants, and generally 
so far only as they are related to these wants; first to its appe- 
tites, then to its affections and desires. With the discernment of 
these objects, in their relations to these sensibilities and desires, 
begins also the direction of the active powers by intelligence. 

But though the attention is at first chiefly occupied with 
sensible objects, and these prominently in their relations to the 
sensibilities and the practical wants, it is not wholly neglectful 
of the psychical operations and the psychical self. At a very 
early period the body is distinguished from the material world 
of which it forms a part. The soul also begins to be appre- 
hended as diverse from the body, as soon as the purely psychi- 
cal emotions, as the love of power and sympathy, or the irasci- 
ble passions, are vividly experienced. 



166 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



As fast as the attention masters distinct objects, it must separ- 
ate them into separable ideas or images, which are henceforth 
at the service of the imaginatian and the memory. These reap- 
pear in the occasional dream-life that begins to disturb what 
was hitherto the animal sleep of the infant. Memory begins to 
recall past experiences of knowledge and feeling. Recognition 
finds old and familiar acquaintances in the objects seen a sec- 
ond time. At a later period, imagination begini^ to imitate the 
actions and occupations of older persons, and furnishes endless 
and varied play work for childhood in the busy constructions of 
the never-wearied fancy; while it irradiates the emotional life 
with perpetual and inextinguishable sunshine. 

Slowly, the rudiments of thinking^ or the rational processes, begin 
to be learned and practiced. The attention not only discrimi- 
nates, but compares. As it compares, it discerns likenesses and 
differences in qualities and relations. These, it thinks apart 
from the individual objects to which they pertain. It groups 
and arranges, under the general conceptions thus formed, the 
individuals and species to which they belong. To these activi 
ties language furnishes its stimulus and lends its aid. Inasmuch 
as there can be but a limited language without generalization, 
the infant or child is forced to think, by the multitude of words 
which catch its ear and force themselves upon its attention ; 
each representing the previous thinking of other men, and 
even of other generations. 

With classifying, are intimately allied the higher acts of tra- 
cing effects to causes and illustrating causes by effects. Then, 
inductions are made by interpreting similar qualities and causes, 
as exhibited in experience and elicited by experiments. The 
mind becomes possessed of principles and rules, which it ap- 
plies in deductions both to prove and explain. The powers and 
forces of matter and spirit begin to be discerned, as the result of 
induction and deduction combined. The relations of these 
powers to their conditions, and to one another, as well as to 
motion, time, and space, begin to be fixed and definitely stated 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. Wt 



and the laws of matter and of spirit are ascertained in a wider 
or more limited range and application. Science arranges all 
beings and all events into the order of completed systems, by means 
of the processes of thought; the world of nature is recast into a new 
spiritual structure, under the relations by which thought de- 
composes and recombines its individual beings and events, as 
presented to observation under the relations of space and time. 
Adaptation and design shoot golden threads of light and order 
through that otherwise pale and lifeless system of nature, which 
science reconstructs out of blind forces and fixed mechanical 
laws. The originating and intelligent intellect of the Eternal 
Creator and Designer is reached, as the first assumption and the 
last result of scientific thought. 

Last of all, thought turns back upon itself, and critically analy- 
zes all its knowledge, and its very power to know\ It inquires 
into and scrutinizes its acquisitions and its assumptions, and 
challenges its own confidence in its most familiar processes and 
beliefs. It seeks to justify to itself its acquired knowledge, its 
science, and its faith, by retracing, under the guidance of logical 
relations, every' step it has taken, and every stage through 
which it has passed in its development and growth. It lays 
bare the necessary assumptions, the primary and universal re- 
lations, which are acknowledged and acted upon in all observa- 
tion, in all sciences, and in all faith. It returns again from the 
course of its speculative criticism, to confide a second time in 
this knowledge and the faith which it could not but acquire 
and apply in its progressive synthesis, and which it now has 
learned to vindicate by its retrogressive analysis. 

These critical and speculative processes of thought are re- 
served for but a few of the race to prosecute. They are, how- 
ever, the normal and the necessary consummation of the com- 
pleted growth of the fully developed man." 

From the development of the child's mind it is evi- 
dent that devices or means that will not be appropriate, 



168 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



and will not aid the association at one time, will at an- 
other, and vice versa. 

What are the principal means or devices that may be 
employed in reading? (a.) To call the idea into con- 
sciousness, (b.) To call the word into consciousness. 

Among the principal means of suggesting the idea to 
the mind may be mentioned : 

1. Illustration. 

a. Objective. 

b. Graphic {^X^f 

2. Language. 

a. Oral word. \ ^^^^^' , 

I In a sentence. 

b. Conversation. 

c. Stories. 

The printed word is brought into consciousness, in 
the first place mainly by observation and copy. It is 
afterwards suggested by any one of the means given 
above as suggesting the idea. 

The great and most prevalent defect in teaching 
children to read is in having them try to learn one thing 
by doing another, i.e., in having them associate expres- 
sion with expression, when the aim is to associate ex- 
pression with thought. Dealing too much with form or 
expression, has been, and is, the source of all the me- 
chanical reading that so abounds. In reading the form 
or expression is the incident, and is to be kept in the 
background. 

The tendency to make the expression prominent is 
seen in the association of the printed word with the oral 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 169 

word in unnecessary cases; the association of the printed 
word with the same word in other places on the board 
or in the book; in the practice of calling the pupil's 
attention to his mistakes in emphasis, inflection, modu- 
lation, etc.; in the practice of asking one pupil to tr}^ to 
give a better oral reading than the one given. All these 
tend to make the pupil self-conscious, and hence divide 
his mental energy, wliich should be concentrated upon 
the thought. 

I. THE PURPOSE. 

The purpose of reading has evoked considerable dis- 
cussion among educators, and there is not yet unanimity 
of view in regard to this important feature of educational 
work. 

Is it the des^ign of reading to store the mind? To 
strengthen the mind? To store and strengthen the 
mind? Or is it a fourth something? 

One defines reading as " the art of giving proper oral 
expression to written or printed composition." 

Another says: "Reading is the adequate expression 
in vocal utterances of the thoughts and feelings of a 
writer as expressed in written or printed composition." 

A third has said: "The true object of reading is to 
make the child's reading easy, intelligent, and intel- 
ligible." 

A fourth states that " Reading is the getting and giv- 
ing of thought by means of words arranged in sen- 
tences." 



170 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

It has also been said that " Reading is that subject 
which seeks: — 

1. To give the pupil that knowledge of the various 
forms of discourse which is necessary to comprehending 
the contents of these forms of discourse. 

2. To give skill in comprehending the thought of 
discourse as a whole. 

3. To cultivate certain powers of the mind, espe- 
cially the imagination, sensibility and will. 

4. To give a knowledge of the principles of oral 
reading and skill in using them." 

These views as to the nature and province of reading 
have arisen, no doubt, from a consideration of the sub- 
ject-matter of reading and of the general aim of educa- 
tion itself, since reading is the one subject, as e.orrectly 
indicated in the last purpose, as given above, that most 
nearly approaches in its scope, that of education itself. 

The subject matter of reading is printed discourse? 
and the question recurs as the most preliminary and the 
most important one in the subject, — What is the aim of 
reading in dealing with printed matter ? 

The object of reading as a subject may be indicated 
by considering the object of an individual reading 
lesson. 

Lucy Larcom, in describing May, wrote — 

'* Oh, the smell of sprouting grass! 
In a blur the violets pass. 

Whispering from the wild- wood come ^ 

Mayflower's breath and insect's hum." 

Were this fragment of literature to be the subject- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 171 

matter of a particular lesson in reading sliould the de- 
sign of the lesson be to give the pupils a knowledge of 
the words and sentences, i. e., the expression, as such? 

Should the purpose be to give the pupils a knowledge 
of the thought itself, as such, i. e., to give the pupils, as 
a permanent possession of their minds the thought that 
May is the month that is characterized by odors of 
sprouting grass and Mayflowers, profusion of violets, 
and music of insects ? 

Should the object be to give the pupil the power to 
obtain the thought through the form of expression? 

Should the end in view in the lesson be to give to the 
class the power to adequately express orally in the 
language of the writer, the thought and feeling? 

Or should the aim of the lesson be to confer the 
power to interpret the thought of such discourse, and to 
give adequate oral expression to the thought and feeling 
in the same words ? 

It is presumed that no one would hold to the thought 
that either the first or the second purpose indicated 
should be the real design of the lesson. 

The question remains, however, Would the purpose 
of the lesson be the third, the fourth, or the fifth as pre- 
sented above ? 

This is a question which, it would seem, cannot be 
answered by considering the subject matter of reading 
only. Recourse must also be had to the object of school 
work in general. 

The school work is to prepare one to enter properly 
upon his duties involved in the relationship of family, 



172 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

church, society, business affairs, and state. The reading 
in school is therefore to deal with printed discourse in 
that way which will best prepare the pupil to deal with 
printed discourse as required in these after relations, 
from which he cannot escape if he would. 

If the family relation is considered, especially the 
family fireside relation, it is obvious that every family 
circle, if culture reigns there, involves and requires in- 
telligent interpretation and adequate oral expression of 
printed discourse. 

It is equally plain that intelligent participation in the 
affairs of society, business, church, and state, requires 
considerable power of interpreting thought as expressed 
in print, and in certain phases of their relations, that 
the power to give intelligible oral expression in the same 
words to the thought and feeling as expressed in the 
form of print, is no small advantage. 

Reflection as to the relative importance of the power 
to interpret printed discourse, and the power to orally 
express the thought of such discourse, in all the rela- 
tions of life for which the school work should prepare, 
would seem to make it clear that the former, as unlock- 
ing to the reader the treasures of the past and giving to 
him in so large a measure those ideas and influences 
that prepare him to cope with the difficulties of life, 
and elevate his standard of living, is more important 
than the power to orally express thought as found in 
print, however important this latter power may be, and 
undoubtedly is. 

It may, therefore, be said that the purpose of read- 
ing is : — 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 173 

1. To give the pupils the power to obtain ft-om print 
(or script) the thought and feeling of the author. 

2. To give the power to adequately express orally 
the thought and feeling in the words of the writer ; and 
that of this two-fold purpose the first part is the pre- 
dominant element. 

By reference to the purposes quoted above, in the be- 
ginning, it will be seen that the first and second have 
in contemplation only the second element of the pur- 
pose just stated, and that the third, fourth and fifth are 
in substantial accord with the two-fold purpose as given 
with this difference, however, that there is in them no in- 
dication as to which element of the purpose is predom- 
inant. 

Those teachers who hold the first element of the pur- 
pose to be the predominant one, will recognize in oral 
reading not only, an end, but a means, and will be free 
to employ it when it seems advantageous to test whether 
the pupil has obtained the thought, and also to assist 
him, through imitation as an instrument, in obtaining 
the thought ; and that teacher who considers the second 
phase of the subject to be the more important of the 
two, will maintain that imitation should not be em- 
ployed in teaching reading, and that the pupil should 
never be allowed to attempt the oral expression of a 
sentence until he is in full possession of the thought 
and feeling. 

II. STAGES. 

The work in reading in the common schools, may be 
viewed as consisting of three stages : 



174 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

1. The* preparatory stage. 

2. Primary reading proper. 

3. Advanced reading. 

The first occupying from three to five months, has for 
its distinguishing mark this: — 

It enables the pupil to em])ody in script and in print, 
as a means and to obtain from script and from print, his 
own ideas and thoughts. To illustrate in regard to the 
idea. The pupil is familiar with the object pen, and w4th 
its oral name. The presence of the object will at any 
time suggest the oral name, and the oral name the 
object. The advance in knowledge which is to be ac- 
complished by this stage is to lead the pupil to associate 
first the idea and tlien the oral name with the word pen 
in script and in print. Moreover, the association of the 
idea and the oral word with the word in script and in 
print is to be so thorough, that thereafter whenever word 
in script or in print is seen, it suggests first the idea and 
then the oral word. Therefore it is said thnt the distin- 
guishing idea of the preparatory stage is that it ena])les 
the pupil to embody in script and in print, and to obtain 
from script and from print, his own ideas. (The idea is 
termed his own because it arose in his mind on the pre- 
sentation of the idea objectively or by oral language). 

To illustrate in regard to the thought. Should the 
teacher, by work in the class, lead the pupil to form the 
thought, "The pen is used to write with," and to express 
it orally, and then lead him to associate the thought and 
its oral expression with the expression of the thought in 
script and in print on the board, it would be an example 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 175 

of what is meant when it is said that the first stage en- 
ables the pupil to embody his own thought in script and 
in print. If the association of the thought and its oral 
expression, and the expression in script and in print is 
sufficiently thorough, whenever thereafter, the expres- 
sion in script or in print is seen, it will suggest first the 
thought and then its oral expression. In this sense it 
is asserted that the distinguishing mark of the first stage 
is that it enables the pupil to embody in script and in 
print, and to obtain from script and from print, his own 
thoughts. 

The distinguishing mark of the preparatory stage is 
the ground for a general method of procedure, as follows : 

1. The expression of ir/ms in script or print, ri. Awaken 
in the mind of the pupils the idea. b. Place on the 
board in script or print, in the presence of the class, the 
word. c. Lead the pupils to associate the idea with the 
word in script or in print, d. Lead them to associate 
the oral word with the word in script or print. 

Continue such work with ideas until the pupils are all 
masters of a vocal)ulary of thirty or forty words in script 
or print. 

2. The expression of thoughts in script or print, a. 
Awaken in the minds of the pupils the thought, b. Ob- 
tain the oral expression, c. Place on the board, in the 
presence of the class, the same expression of the thought 
in script or print, d. Lead the pupils to associate the 
thought with its expression in script or print, e. Lead 
them to associate the oral expression with the expres- 
sion in script or print. 



176 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



Continue such work with thoughts Until the pupils are 
masters of a considerable number of sentences in script 
or print. 

3. The change from script to print, if script is taught 
first, a. Place upon the board in script a number of 
words, h. Lead the pupils to associate with them the 
ideas and the oral words, c. Place upon the board the 
same words in print, d. Associate the words in print 
with the same words in script, e. Associate the words in 
print with their ideas and their oral names. 

After several such lessons upon words, similar lessons 
should be given with sentences. 

From this stage forward, print is the form of expres- 
sion considered in reading, and the pupil is able to talk 
concerning; his reading, or other lessons, either orally or 
in script — the second great mode of communication in 
business or society. 

The condition of this stage is that the ideas and 
thoughts, and their oral expression are already familiar. 

The second stage of reading, which is termed primary 
reading proper, to distinguish it from the work which 
precedes the use of the first reading-book, continues 
until about the end of the third school year. 

The characteristic that distinguishes this stage is that 
it gives the pupil the power to obtain from printed 
language the thoughts of another, and to give adequate 
oral expression to those thoughts in the same language, 
under the condition that the printed words and the 
separate ideas are, in the main,- familiar ; the one new 
thing being the ideas in the given relation, i. e., the 
thoughts. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 177 

For example, in Lesson IV. of McGuffey's First Reader, 
this sentence is given : "Tlie fat hen is on the box." 

It will indicate the condition of this stage of reading 
to say that the pupil is familiar with the oral words, 
with the printed words, and with the separate ideas ; 
hut that the ideas in this identical relation constitute 
the unfamiliar element. 

The distinctive work of this stage is indicated when it 
is said that under the given conditions, the pupil is to 
be led to associate with those printed words arranged in 
a sentence, the peculiar thought that they represent, and 
to give oral expression to that thought in the same words- 
In this sense the statement is made that the distin- 
guishing characteristic of the second stage of reading is 
that it enables the pupil to obtain from printed words, 
under the given condition, the thoughts of another, and 
to give adequate oral expression to those thoughts in the 
same words. 

The distinguishing mark of primary reading proper 
is the ground for steps as follows: 

1. Conversational exercises to give the pupil the 
possession of the thought before he comes into contact 
with the sentence in the book. 

2. The association of the thouglit with the sentence. 

3. Individual and simultaneous practice in orally 
expressing the thought. 

4. The pointing out of, and the correction of errors. 

5. Individual and simultaneous practice in orally 
expressing the thought. This step to be taken in the 
light of the knowledge gained in "4" 

12 



178 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

6. The oral expression of the thought by the teacher. 

7. Imitation. 

It is not to be understood that all of the printed 
words and all of the ideas that are considered in this 
second stage are familiar, but only that in the main 
such is the case. Many new ideas and words are grad- 
ually introduced and dealt with as a preparatory step 
to the next stage. 

It will be noticed that this stage differs from the first, 
both in immediate aim, and in conditions. 

The third or advanced stage of reading, extending 
over the period beginning about the fourth school year 
and ending with the eighth, exhibits this characteristic 
feature : 

It gives the pupil the ability, among other things, to 
obtain from printed language the thoughts of another, 
and to give those thoughts adequate oral expression in 
the same language, under the condition that the 
thoughts, the main individual ideas, and the words ex- 
pressing them, are not familiar ; e. g. as in this sentence 
from Lesson XX., page 59 of Appleton's Fourth Reader: 

*' The antlered monarch of the waste 
Sprang from the heathery couch in haste." 

Or as in the following from Lesson LXXXVI. of the 
same reader: 

"A target was placed at the upper end of the southern 
avenue which led to the lists." 

An examination of these sentences will disclose the 
the conditions prevalent in this stage of reading work, 
viz., familiarity, on the part of the pupil, with some of 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 179 



the separate ideas and their oral and printed expression, 
and unfamiUarity with — 

a. Some of the ideas, and generally the important 
ones; 

b. The words that express these ; 

c. The ideas in the given relation, i. e., with the pe- 
culiar thought expressed by the sentences. 

The distinctive work of this stage is exhibited here, 
when it is seen that, under the given conditions, the 
pupil is to be led to associate with those printed words 
arranged in sentences, the peculiar thoughts that they 
represent, and to give oral expression to these thoughts 
in the same words. 

The work to be done with tliese two sentences, which 
are given to represent the main difficulties of the stage, 
is the basis of the assertion that the distinguishing mark 
of the third stage of reading is that it enables the pupil 
to obtain, under the given conditions, from printed 
words, the thoughts of another, and to give adequate 
oral expression to these thoughts in the same words. 

The distinguishing mark of the third stage is the 
ground for steps as follows : 

1. The employment of well-known methods of expo- 
sition, as: 

a. Example. 

6. Setting forth the inherent ideas of the various 
notions. 

c. Antithesis. 

d. Illustration. 

e. Pointing out the difficult relation or point in 
the thought. 



180 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



2. The association of the thought thus gained with 
the sentence. 

3. Individual and simultaneous practice in orally 
expressing the thought. 

4. The pointing out of, and the correction of errors. 

5. Individual and simultaneous practice in orally 
expressing the thought. This step being taken in the 
light of the knowledge gained in "4." 

6. The oral expression of the thought by the teacher. 

7. Imitation. 

It is seen that this stage differs from both the first 
and the second in its conditions, but from the first only 
in that which it enables the pupils to do. 

The consideration of the distinctive nature of these 
different stages of reading and of the general method 
appropriate to each shows that the power of the mind 
most prominently exercised, is its associative power, and 
that, therefore, the teacher should understand and apply 
the laws and arts of retention. 

1. Preparatory stage. 

The work of the preparatory stage is to make the 
association between the printed word and the idea 
which it represents ; and between the printed word and 
the oral word expressing the same idea. 

Different opinions in regard to the best way of mak- 
ing this association have given rise to the different 
methods. 

a. Alphabetic method. 

(1) Its subject matter. 

(a) The alphabet. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 181 

(b) The word. 

(2) What it presents in dealing with the alphabet. 

(a) Form of letters. 
(b ) Name of letters. 

(c ) Order of letters. 

(3) What it presents concerning the word. 
(o) Form as a whole. 

(b ) Pronunciation. 
( c ) Visible parts. 

(4) Its principles. 

(a) Any whole may be more clearly comprehended 
if its elements are known. 

( 6) But twenty-six characters enter into the compo- 
sition of the various words, and these words dififer 
mainly in the arrangement of these characters, hence it 
is more logical to teach the alphabet first. 

(c) The alphabet should be taught by grouping and 
juxtaposition, involving likeness and difference : thus, 
placing and teaching together c, o, and e ; w and v ; m 
and n : p and q ; p and d, etc. 

(d) The word should be taught by associating its 
visible form and its pronunciation with the letters and 
the aggregate of the letter-names. 

(5) Favorable points in this method. 

(a) Its recognition of principle (a), (c) and the first 
part of (6), as above stated. 

(6) Objections to this method. 

(a) It adheres to the last part of principle (b), 
thereby reversing the order of reading and spelling, 
spelling being a habit of the eye ; and disregarding the 



182 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 

principle that in acquisition the more natural method 
of procedure is from the whole to the part. 

(6) The association which it makes between the 
pronunciation and the aggregate of the letter-names is 
arbitrary. 

( c ) It does not associate the printed form with the 
idea, though it might, indirectly. 
h. Phonic method. 

(1) Its subject-matter. 
{a) The alphabet. 

(6 ) The word. 

(2) What it presents concerning the alphabet, 
(a) Forms of letters. 

(6 ) Names of letters. 

( c ) Order of letters. 

(d) Sounds of letters. 
(e ) Diacritical marks. 

(3) What it presents concerning the word. 
(a) Form of word as a whole. 

(6 ) Pronunciation. 

(c) Visible parts. 
{d) Audible parts. 

(e) Relation between (c) and (d). 

(4) Its principles. 

(a), (6) and (c) same as in alphabetic method. 

(d) The word should be taught by associating its 
visible form and pronunciation with the letters and the 
aggregate of the letter-sounds. 

(5) Favorable points in the method, 
(a) Same as under alphabetic method. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 183 



(6) Objections to this method. 

(a) and (c) same as under alphabetic. 

(c) The aggregate of the letter-sounds does not nat- 
urally suggest the pronunciation, although the associa- 
tion is much closer than that between the aggregate of 
the letter-names and the pronunciation. 

(d) Its classification of the elementary sounds, in 
connection with their signs, is complex yet inadequate. 

c Phonetic method. (Leigh's Pronouncing Or- 
thography.) 

(1) Its subject-matter, 
(a) The alphabet. 

(6 ) The word. 

(2) What it presents concerning the alphabet. 
(a) Forms of letters. 

(6 ) Names of letters. 
( c ) Order x)f letters. 

(d) Sounds of letters. 
(e ) New characters. 

(3) What it presents concerning the word. 
(a), (6), (c), (d), (e) same as in phonic method. 

(4) Its principles. 

(a), (6), (c) and (d) same as in phonic method. 

(e ) There should be a separate character for each 
sound, and that character should have a uniform power. 

(5) Favorable points. 
Same as in phonic. 

(6) Objections to this method. 

(a) In this method the transition to the common 
alphabetic characters is made by giving to the pupil the 



184 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

same primers to read in these characters that he has 
already been reading in the phonetic characters. 

Such a method is liable to the same objections that 
have been urged against the phonic method excepting 
(d), while its peculiarity in using new characters has 
two difficulties special to itself. 

1'. The irregularities of sound in the language as it 
is written are not surmounted by such a contrivance but 
only delayed. 

2'. Such a method, to be introduced at all, would re- 
quire to be introduced universally ; for it is incompati- 
ble with the ordinary methods, and a pupil changing 
from one to another with change of school, would find 
his previous acquisition not only useless to him, but an 
actual obstacle to further progress. 

d. The word method. 

(1) Its subject-matter. 

(a) The word. 

(b) The alphabet. 

(2) What its presents concerning the word. 

(a) Association of idea with the oral word. 

(b ) Association of the printed form with the oral 
word as a whole. 

( c ) The analysis of the word into its sounds. 

(d) Analysis into letters. 

(e) Association of the sounds with the letters, in- 
cluding diacritical marking. 

(3) What it presents concerning the alphabet. 
It is obvious that this method presents: — 

(a) Names of letters. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 185 

(b) Forms of letters. 

(c) Sounds of letters. 

(d) Diacritical marks. 

(4) Its principles. 

(a) Same as (a) in the alphabetic. 

(b) It is the more natural to proceed from the whole 
to the elements. 

(c) The printed word should be taught by asso- 
ciating it directly with the already familiar oral word. 

(d) A part is contemplated with more interest after 
its whole is known. 

(e ) In teaching the forms of the letters, the eye 
should observe and the hand reproduce. 

(5) Favorable points. 

The recognition of the five principles above stated. 

(6) Objections. 

(a) It does not make a direct association between 
the idea and the printed word. 

( b) It does not directly give the pupil the power to 
master new words, in which the power of reading really 
consists. 

( c) It presents the diacritical marks before necessity 
requires, thereby complicating the work of the prepara- 
tory stage. 

e. Another view of the word method, or the modi- 
fied word method. 

(1) Subject-matter. 

(a) The word in direct association with its idea. 

(b ) The alphabet. 

(2) What it presents concerning the word. 



186 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

(a) Printed forms as a whole. 

(b) Direct association of the printed form with the 
idea. 

* (c) Pronunciation. 

(d) Analysis into sounds. 

{e ) Analysis into letters, 

(f ) Association of the letters with the sounds. 

(3) What it presents concerning the alphabet. 

(a) Names of letters. 

(b ) Forms of letters. 

(c) Sounds of letters. 

(4) Its principles. 

(a) The method of learning the printed word should 
be analogous to that by which the child learns the oral 
word ; i. e., the association between the printed word 
and the idea should be direct, and the expression should 
be kept in the background. 

(b ) The power to master new words as to printed 
form and pronunciation should be given through the 
law of analogy. 

For example, at some stage in the work the pupil has 
encountered the word hem, and in connection with it 
studied gem, stem, them, etc. At another time he may 
have been required to deal with the word ark, and 
along with it to consider dark, hark, mark, park, stark, 
etc. At still another time he has had presented some word 
involving b — e. g., ball, or web ; or some word involving 
is, as this. In the study of these the work involved not 
the use of diacritical marks, but a dependence — 

(a) Upon phonic and visible resemblance. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 187 

( b) Upon the spontaneous induction which the 
mind of the pupil tends to make. 

(c) Upon direct and systematic guidance to the 
proper induction by the teacher. 

In this way the pupil gradually comes into a com- 
prehension of the genius of the English language as to 
its letter-combinations and the associated sounds. By 
natural mental growth he begins to understand that as 
a rule there is, according to the inherent nature of the 
English language for the analogous combinations ark, 
dark, hark, park, etc., an analogous sound regardless of 
any markings ; and likewise, in regard to such words 
as gem, stem, them, hem, etc. 

Therefore, it is held that work based upon this 
thought, taken day by day, establishing the general 
laws as to the relation of combinations of letters and 
sounds first, and dealing with the exceptions afterwards, 
confers a natural power for the mastery of the printed 
form and the pronunciation of new words, and one that 
is as applicable to the newspaper and general literature 
as to the prepared text book in which markings are to be 
found. It thus occurs that if the pupil meets for the first 
time, upon the page of a newspaper or elsewhere, the 
word disembark, he is already substantially master of it, 
because in the combinations already referred to he has 
studied the forms em, ark, b, d, and is, and compre- 
hends their power ; and the idea that he has gained 
of phonic and visible resemblance enables him to see 
with but little difficulty the relation between form and 
sound of this new word. 



188 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

(c) The sense or meaning of a word is its strongest 
bond of association, and also the one of greatest worth. 

(d) Other things being equal, those things that are 
brought nnost often before the mind are best retained. 

{e) Other things being equal, those things which are 
most free from entangling relations are best retained. 

(/) The word as a whole, and the letters are visible 
forms, and therefore in learning them the eye should 
observe and the hand reproduce. 

(5) Order of procedure, and suggestions. 

(a) For two months present isolated words as 
wholes, making the association between the printed 
word and the idea direct, using the oral word only inci- 
dentally. 

1'. Nature of the work under "(a)" explained. 

(6 ) At the beginning of the third month commence 
to teach words in sentences. 

1'. Nature of the work under "(6)" explained. 

(c) At the beginning of the third month begin to 
analyze words into their sounds. 

1'. Manner of beginning the analysis explained. 

(d) Sometime during the third month commence to 
analyze the words into their letters, and to associate the 
letters with their sounds. 

r. Nature of the work under "(c^)" explained. 

The time as given under (a), (6), (c) and (c?), as well 
as that given elsewhere, is only approximate. It may 
be varied according to the condition of the school com- 
munity, or the mental development of the pupils. 

(e) Diacritical marks. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 189 

1'. Purpose. 

To aid the child in the intelligent use of the dic- 
tionary. 

2'. Time of teaching these marks : — 
Beginning of the third year. 

a'. Reason : — 
Principle "M" of this method. 
( f ) Print and script. 

1'. Reasons for presenting words in script from the 
beginning. 

a!. Printed letters have a vertical position. Pupils 
who practice printing for any considerable length of 
time acquire a stiff, awkard manner of forming the 
letters. 

h'. Script preserves closely the unity of the word. 

c . The script form is more easily made. 

d.' It gives' the child at the very beginning of his 
school-life the second important medium of communi- 
cation. 

2'. Reason for presenting words in print form from 
the beginning. 

The purpose of the preparatory stage is to give the 
child the mastery over words as printed forms. A care- 
ful consideration of the reasons for presenting script 
and for presenting print from the beginning will show a 
preponderance in favor of presenting print. 

{g) Manner of teaching " a " and " the." 
There are three methods of presenting these words, 
which will be stated in the order of their value, begin- 
ning with the one of least worth. 



190 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

1'. To teach the sounds of these words as given by 
the dictionary, and to hold the pupils rigidly to this 
pronunciation. 

2'. To teach the words, giving "a" and "e" their 
name sounds, on the assumption that the pupils will 
naturally acquire the proper pronunciation. 

3'. To omit all direct teaching in regard to the pro- 
nunciation of these words. First, on the ground that 
the directions given for their pronunciation by the dic- 
tionary are based upon the observed habit of both chil- 
dren and adults ; and, second, on the assumption that 
the pupils will naturally and readily continue their 
already acquired habit of pronouncing these words 
when they are presented as printed forms without any 
direct instruction. 

{h) The words to be taught in the preparatory stage. 

1.' The number : — 

About one hundred and fifty. The number may vary. 
By some teachers it is deemed best to begin almost at 
once with the words in the book; by others, after pre- 
senting orally from ten to twenty words ; while still 
others advocate the teaching of from fifty to one hun- 
dred words in the preparatory stage. Each teacher 
should decide this for himself in view of his surround- 
ings, and the condition of the school and class. 

2'. Ideas to be considered in selecting them. 

a'. They must be familiar orally and as to their 
meaning. 

b'. They must be interesting. 

c' They must be in a large measure those contained 
in the first reading book. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 191 

d'. They should be composed of groups that contain 
words analogous in form and sound. 

3'. How they are to be selected. 

a'. The words that occur in the first reading lesson 
should be taken. 

6'. To these should be added all familiar words 
that are analogous in form and sound. 

c'. The words of the succeeding lesson should be 
selected in the same way until the number of words re- 
quired for the preparatory stage is secured. 

(1') The preparation of a list of words suitable for 
presentation in the preparatory stage, in accordance 
with the thought expressed under " 3'." 

2. Primary reading proper. 

In the first year of this stage the sul)ject-matter and 
the mode of procedure are closely allied to those of the 
preparatory sta^ge, and in the second year to those of 
the advanced stage. 

3. Advanced reading. 
a. Qualities in reading. 

There are five qualities in reading, each of which 
should be made the subject of separate and successive 
study and training. 

(1) Correct pronunciation of words. 

(2) Firmness and distinctness in the enunciation of 
words. 

(3) Deliberateness in the enunciation of the several 
clauses making up each sentence. 

(4) Emphasis. 

(5) Expression. 



192 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

The first three of these qualities secure intelligibility 
and form the principal work of the elementary teacher. 
Emphasis can come within the sphere of the work only 
when correctness, distinctness and deliberateness have 
been attained. But inasmuch as this quality of read- 
ing is the fruit of an intellectual perception of the 
interdependence of clauses, it should be, as soon as prac- 
ticable, required of every pupil. Its existence is the 
best possible indication, test, and measure of the in- 
telligence which the child has been taught to bring to 
bear on his reading, and of the suitableness of the books 
which are put into his hands. 

Expression belongs to the aesthetics of reading, and 
has reference to the moral and sentimental appreciation 
of what is read, and should not be imposed until the 
emotional nature is sufficiently developed not only to 
feel, but consciously to reproduce what another person 
feels. 

h. Lines of work. 

To produce these qualities instruction, imitation, and 
practice all contribute. 

(1) Instruction. 

Under this head are included: — 

(a) Conversational exercises. 

(h) Grammatical analysis. 

(c) Thought analysis, or explanation of the general 
scope of the lesson. 

(c?) Distinguishing between language of the under- 
standing and language of the imagination. 

(e) Correction of errors. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 193 

Errors may be considered as of two kinds— errors of 
pronunciation, affecting the sounds of individual words, 
and errors of expression, consisting of an improper rate 
of utterance, neglect of emphasis, or false modulation. 
The former prevails chiefly in younger classes, the latter 
in more advanced. 

That correction may become an efficient instrument 
in teaching, it must have two features — it must be 
thorough in its work and comprehensive in its range. 

1'. It must be thorough. By this is meant that it 
must be done in such a way as to turn the attention of 
the whole class to the errors made by each pupil, and 
impress on all, the correct sounds. 

2'. It must be comprehensive. That is, it should 
not be confined to one kind of error, but directed to all 
aspects of the reading. 

(2) Imitation. 

The acquisition of a good style of reading is largely 
the result of imitation, equally with the acquisition of 
a good style of speech. That the pupil may be in 
favorable circumstances for learning to read well, he 
must have before him a good model, both of speech and 
of reading. 

The teacher should, therefore, use a correct style of 
speech in his whole intercourse with his pupils, not less 
in his })rivate conversation with them than in his les- 
sons of every kind. The qualities of his speech may 
be expected, more or less, to appear in theirs, and 
through that in their reading. Thus, where the teach- 
er's language is deliberate and distinct, the style of the 

13 



194 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

school-reading is seldom the reverse. In addition to the 
example given by the teacher, he should be careful to 
correct all errors in the speech of the pupils. 

When instruction and practice have been efficiently 
employed, the teacher should read the passage himself 
that the pupils may observe his modulations. This 
should be not an occasional, but a frequent and regular 
occurrence. He should, in addition to this, read at 
stated times from some suitable work of general interest. 

(3) Practice. 

Practice is of three kinds — individual practice, simul- 
taneous practice, and practice afforded by committing 
passages to memory. 

(a) Individual practice. 

Practice is what is chiefly, and in many cases, exclu- 
sively relied on in schools to form the pupil's reading — 
a ftict sufficient in itself to account for the imperfect 
results so often attained. Where there is no model pre- 
sented for his imitation and little or no instruction is 
given him in reading, practice is as likely to confirm 
in the pupil a bad style, as to impart to him a good 
one. This is the first fault, then, often observable in 
reading practice — that it is expected to accomplish 
what by itself it never can. Another defect common to 
the practice of reading in schools is that it fails to 
accustom the pupil to continuous reading. He cannot 
feel the same interest in a subject in the description of 
which he reads only a detached sentence. It is con- 
tinuous reading that he will have to practice in after- 
life, if he reads at all, either for his own instruction or 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 195 



for thiit of others ; to give him the habit, therefore, of 
sustaining his attention, and to give him command over 
his voice, he should be accustomed to the reading of 
paragraphs. 

(6) Simultaneous practice. 

The principle of simultaneous practice is that the in- 
ferior readers of the class are compelled for the time to 
conform to the standard of the better readers. It in- 
fluences the reading of the class favorably in three 
ways : — 

1.' In the point of distinctness ; the mere effort re- 
quired from all to keep together improving their articu- 
lation. 

2.' It improves the rate of reading where it is de- 
fective. Tlie quick reader it moderates ; the sluggish it 
stimulates; drawing both by a power of sympathy 
whicli they ca'nnot resist to abandon their peculiarities 
for the time. 

3.' It tends to remove asperities of tone and modu- 
lation. 

{c). Practice by committing to memory. 

This kind of practice, provided it be intelligent, and 
not mechanical, is attended by many advantages : — 

1.' It strengthens the verbal memory. 

2.' It furnishes the mind with substantial ideas and 
beautiful images. 

3.' It advances the pupil's power of composition. 

4.' It improves the style of reading, from the care 
with which the pupil seeks to give effect to his elocu- 
tion in such an exercise, and the directness with which 



196 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

the teacher's attention is turned to the qualities of elo- 
cution. 

c. The steps in reading lessons. 

(1) Kinds of lessons. 

Reading lessons as shown by the purpose, are of two 
kinds : — 

(a) Those that deal with the thought. 

{h) Those that deal with the oral expression. 

(2) The general lesson that deals with thought. 

In this case the work is to lead the pupils to compre- 
hend the general thought of the selection as a whole. 
This would constitute a lesson in itself, or, in some 
cases, several lessons. 

The means to be employed in leading to a compre- 
hension of the general thought of the whole selection 
are two in number, either of which may be used. 

(a) The explanation of the unfamiliar terms and 
references, both in a conversational way and formally. 

(h) The application of the categories to the selection, 
together with explanation of the unfamiliar terms and 
references. 

1.' Illustrations of "(a)" "(6)." 

The categories should not be formally applied to se- 
lections before the fifth year grade, although they may 
be informally applied in the lower grades. 

If they are employed in a lesson the proportion of 
treatment should be carefully determined. 

2.' Illustration. 

3. The specific lesson that deals with thought ; i. e., 
the lesson upon a particular paragraph or stanza. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 197 

_ 

a. Steps. 

(1) To give the pupil a knowledge of the unfamiliar 
terms and references. 

This is a more definite investigation upon these points 
than that given in the general lesson. 

(2) To lead the pupils to decide upon the central 
thought or thoughts. 

(3) To show what thoughts are related to the central 
thought or thoughts. 

(4) To lead the pupils to decide whether the thought 
as a whole is emotional or unemotional. 

(5) To lead the pupils to determine how their minds 
regard these thoughts. 

(a) Illustration of the work under "a." 
4. The specific lesson that deals with the oral ex- 
pression. 
a. Steps. 

(1) To lead the pupils to decide upon the oral ex- 
pression suited to the central thought or thoughts. 

(2) To lead the pupils to decide upon the oral ex- 
pression suited to the subordinate thoughts. 

(3) To lead the pupils to choose from among the 
various oral readings that which is most nearly ade- 
quate. 

IV. MEANS OF MAKING THE WORK INTERESTING. 

This is obviously of greater moment in its relation to 
preparatory and primary reading than in relation to ad- 
vanced reading. In preparatory reading and largely in 
primary reading, the work consists mainly in the asso- 



198 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

elation of the idea with the printed form. The effort is 
in effect the mastery of a printed form. The printed 
form is, in itself, of comparatively little interest to the 
child. Without doubt, its newness, and the effort to 
imitate it, will invest with some slight interest the task, 
fot considered wholly in itself, the mastery of printed 
forms is to the child a task. If, therefore, it be ad- 
mitted that interest is the basis of attention, and atten- 
tion the basis of permanent acquisition, it becomes at 
once evident that the study of words and sentences as 
forms, which is the nature of the work in the early 
stages, should have thrown about it some greater inter- 
est than that which arises from the consideration and 
mastery of a visible form. 

It is not at all the intention here to present new 
means of interest, but merely to present and emphasize 
the value of old and well known means, such as : — 

1. Illustration — objective, pictorial and verbal. 

2. Conversational exercises. 

3. Reading to pupils. 

The first means is based upon the principles that the 
strongest and most interesting bond of association that 
a word can have is its meaning presented in conjunc- 
tion with the form, and that, other things being equal, 
that is most easily acquired and best retained, which is 
presented most concretely, vividly and graphically. 
These would indicate that whenever the word stands for 
an object, the object should, if possible, be at hand, or a 
representation of it in a picture or upon the board, in 
order that the qualities for which it is known may be 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 199 



observed and associated with the printed form which is 
its symbol. There are, however, many words that are 
susceptible of neither objective nor pictorial illustration. 
These are to be made vivid in their significance and 
therefore interesting, through verbal illustration, i. e., 
by picturing out to the minds of the pupils, the ideas 
for which the printed forms stand. In order to make 
the mastery of such words interesting, there are re- 
quired verbal comparison, analogy and illustration 
to the degree that the significance shall stand out pres- 
ent to the mind's eye. 

In reality every word represents an object or a com- 
bination of objects, and may therefore be made strongly 
interesting to the pupils by being pictured out in words 
representing the objects. That every word represents 
either an object or a combination of objects does not at 
first appear ; yet a close analysis of even such words as 
of, from, this, that, towards, resting, etc., will show that 
each represents an object or objects in certain relations 
or conditions. 

Pestalozzi was the first who introduced the systematic 
use of objects and pictures as an element of interest 
and knowledge in language work ; but long before, a 
greater teacher than he, one who " spake as never man 
spake," gave the true way of filling every abstract term, 
figurative word and phrase with significance and inter- 
est by the simple and interesting method of picturing 
out to the mind's eye through analogy and verbal illus- 
tration. The New Testament is rich in examples of 
verbal illustration. Among them will be remembered 
the following : — 



200 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

When the Savior wished the Jews to understand His 
love for Jemsalem, and the destruction of Jenisalem, in or- 
der to fill these phrases to the utmost, he said — " Je- 
rusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and 
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would 
I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen 
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would 
not ! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." 

The judicious employment of the device of picturing 
out to the mind in reading lessons upon all appropriate 
occasions will tend to enrich and fill with interest the 
usually uninteresting process of mastering words as 
forms. It may be said in objection to this that such a 
process, in conjunction with the other forms of illustra- 
tion, would require too much time. The reply is that 
mere instruction, the mere lodging in the memory of 
word-forms may be pressed, but that education is of 
slow growth. 

The second means — conversational exercises — is based 
upon the principle that education is a process in which 
mind addresses mind, and that in order that the pro- 
cess may be successful, there must be sympathetic har- 
mony between the minds, to insure freedom of mind 
action on the part of those addressed. It should there- 
fore be the constant aim in the early reading work, to 
foster, by using every fitting opportunit}^, that sym- 
pathy and freedom which will arise from the interweav- 
ing of conversation and instruction upon the forms of 
words. This is one of the most accessible approaches 
to the interest of the child. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 201 

The third means — reading to children — is employed to 
confessedly great advantage in the family, and it is some- 
what strange that it is neglected to so great an extent in 
many schools. Reading to pupils has, clearly, two 
advantages : — 

First, it fm*nishes a strong stimulus to the pupils to 
learn to read for themselves ; and this is peculiar to it 
in distinction from telling the same thing to the pupils 
in the teacher's own words. The teacher should read 
to the school; interest them in what he reads by cluster- 
ing pleasant associations round the book; and lead the 
children to see that he gains a large part of his knowl- 
edge from books. 

If the children are thus frequently shown both direct- 
ly and indirectly the pleasures of reading for them- 
selves, an incentive to master the formal, hard, dry side 
of reading will' naturally arise in the mind, because of 
the desire to take possession of the beauty and enchant- 
ment which the form has within it, forever locked away 
and hidden from all not possessed of the key — power to 
read. 

The second advantage of reading to pupils is the cul- 
ture that it brings to the imaginative, moral, and aes- 
thetic natures, to which it should be addressed. 

Direct address, or the telling of stories to the children 
may, it is true, accomplish the same end ; but even if 
all teachers possessed the grace and charm of narration 
that is found in the works of Irving, Prescott, Dickens, 
Miss Alcott, and like writers, which is not the case, their 
power would be greatly extended by the use of books. 



202 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



These present a large range of beautiful ideas clothed 
in elegant and graceful drapery, giving them a perma- 
nent existence to which the child may be led again and 
again, each time with renewed pleasure ; for the child 
delights in an old story, because all his surroundings 
are new to him, and he seeks repose from novelty in 
familiarity, just as when the world grows old to the 
mature, they seek a change from monotony in novelty. 

Reading to children, in addition to interesting them, 
tends, if rightly conducted, to confer that which is one 
great aim of education — the power of close and self- 
sustaining attention. 

The books from which to read belong to two classes — 
those whose subject-matter is real, and those in which 
it is imaginative. Of the former, many incidents of 
biography and history may be employed, but not to so 
great a degee as might at first be supposed, because they 
do not, in a large measure, present the quiet and 
unobtrusive virtues, bat are, in many cases, connected 
with wrong, oppression, and punishment. 

In addition to this, the most of biographies and his- 
tories are written for adults, and need much modifica- 
tion in order that they may be available for primary 
work. 

The second class of books — the imaginative — has, to 
a great extent, been sent into exile by the utilitarian 
spirit, which prevails to a harmful degree in the public 
schools. Almost all of the old nursery and fairy tales 
have been banished by this spirit, but they should be 
recalled and used again, being fitted for all children 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 203 

in all times. They are much superior in respect of 
healthy influence, to many that have superseded them. 
They develop the imagination, amuse and interest, and 
are, at the same time educating, since they have, espe- 
cially the fairy tales, a distinct moral influence, separat- 
ing the good from the bad by an impassable gulf The 
spirit which would make the public school a mere drill- 
ground on which to prepare the child to earn his daily 
bread, would exclude all these primary imaginative 
tales from the realm of educative influence, and from 
the schools, disregarding the fact that the a3sthetic facul- 
ty is one of the earliest to unfold in the mind of the 
child. 

The esthetic nature is regarded by Herbert Spencer 
as the mere ornament of life — the "effervescence of civ- 
ilization," the culture of which may be deferred to some 
distant day of 'idle leisure in a future golden age, in 
order meantime to press forward the studies necessary 
for the preservation and maintenance of material exis- 
tence. "When," says that distinguished thinker, "the 
forces of Nature have been fully conquered to man's 
use, when the means of production have been brought 
to perfection, when labor has been economized to the 
highest degree, when education has been so systematiz- 
ed that a preparation for the more essential activities 
may be made with comparative rapidity, and when con- 
sequently, there is a great increase of spare time, then 
will the Beautiful, both in Art and Nature, rightly fill a 
large space in the minds of all." 

The scheme of education as given by Alexander Bain 



204 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



would also exclude this important means of arousing 
interest from the schools and relegate it to the family. 
He regards early imaginative literature as only ''a means 
for indulging the emotions, — an ingredient in the satis- 
faction of life," going on to state — "In addition to our 
enjoyment gained from realities, we crave for the con- 
tribution to our enjoyment which comes from ideality. 
Now Ideality is a different thing in different ages, — 
ftiiry tales and extravaganzas for the young ; the poetry 
of Milton for the old. There is nothing educative in 
the first instance ; we are not aiming at instruction, but 
drinking in emotion. The gratifying of children with 
the literature of the imagination is a matter for the 
parent, as much as giving them country walks or holi- 
day treats." 

Both of these eminent educators seem to ignore to too 
great a degree the fact that the aesthetic faculty is one of 
the earliest to unfold, and that therefore primary im- 
aginative literature becomes educative; and also that it 
is one of the great means of interest in the formal or 
primary side of reading, in that it opens enchanted 
ground and wonder-land in connection with that sub- 
ject. 

If it were possible to separate education from inter- 
est, and to contract it into a training which had for its 
first object the obtaining of the means for improved 
material existence, it might well be asked whether the 
race so trained would be likely to have any large space 
of mind left to be filled by beauty in the idle years, 
after nature had been forced to contribute all she could 
to man's material prosperity. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



205 



A school training separated from interest and aesthet- 
ics, through the early formative years would tend to 
lead those who come under its influence to say at last,— 

" Little we see in Nature that is ours, 
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon. 
This sea, that bares her bosom to the moon. 
The winds, that will be howling at all hours 
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers, 
For this, for everything we are out of tune ; 
It moves us not." 

Some of the books that are considered favorable 
are: — 

Jane Austin's novels, (realistic). 
Andersen's Fairy Tales. 
^sop's Fables. * Robinson Crusoe, 
little Folks in Fur and Feathers. 
Near Home and Far Off. 
Extracts from such writers as Miss Edgeworth, Mrs. 
Barbauld, Miss Alcott, '' Peter Parley," "Sophie May," 
" H. H." and others. 

Such periodicals as St. Nicholas, Youth's Companion, 
Harper's Young Folks, The Wide-Awake, The Century, 
Harper's Magazine and Weekly (judiciously used). The 
Nursery, Our Little Men and Women, and others. 



METHOD IN WRITING. 



The most potent reason whv teachers do not train children to write 
correctly is, that they can not write well themselves and will not take the 
trouble to learn.— F. W. Parker, Talks on Teaching. 



DESIGN. 



The design of writing in tlie common schools is to 
give the pupil that power over slope, height and width 



206 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

of letters, thickness and curvature of lines, and mode 
of union, as applied to script, which shall make his 
writing rapid, and at the same time graceful and legible. 
Stated in the order of their importance, beginning with 
the least important, the ends of the subject of writing 
are gracefulness, facility and legibility. 

1. Gracefulness in Script. 

Gracefulness in writing relates to design and to execu- 
tion. It assumes legibility and, in so far as it relates to 
design, depends upon the lines prominently employed. 

Lines, as they appear in writing, are of three kinds : — 
straight lines, arcs of one circle, arcs of more than one 
circle. Gracefulness in script arises from the prominent 
use of the third kind of line. Analysis of script that 
is lacking in beauty will make it manifest that the defect 
arises from the •;eneral tendency of the curved lines to 
approach the straight line and the circle. In so far as 
gracefulness in script depends upon execution, it is 
attained l)y giving regularity, smoothness, and propor- 
tion to the various lines. 

2. Facility in Execution. 

While rapidity is one of the ends of the subject of writ- 
ing, it should not be sought in the early stages of the 
work. The prime end of the subject in all its stages is 
legibility ; and the attempt to attain facility or rapidity 
should be deferred until the elements of legibility and 
beauty of style are effectually mastered. 

These features having been attained, however, it then 
becomes advisable on account of the business relations 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 207 



that the pupil is in the future to assume, to give him 
the power of ease and rapidity of execution. 

The attainment of this end will be advanced if it is 
understood that rapidity depends largely upon five 
characteristics of writing. 

a. The round style. 

b. The minimum of slope. 

c. Simple, as opposed to ornamental. 

d^ Regular and uniform, as opposed to the irregular 
and jerking. 

e. Smooth and flowing rather than disjointed union 
of the letters. 

(See H. Grant, Lectures on Penmanship.) 

3. The Requisites of Legibility. 

Were legibility the sole end in writing, no form other 
than the print characters would be employed, since print 
is the standard- of simplicity and legibility. Writing 
having, however, the additional ends of beauty and 
rapidity, a compromise is required in which legibility 
shall, to some extent, be sacrificed in order to better 
attain the other ends, especially that of rapidity. The 
result of that compromise is script. The problem then 
becomes. How shall the greatest degree of legibilty in 
the use of script be attained ? 

Legibility in script rests upon several conditions : — 

a. The employment of the round hand. 

b. The formation of letters with the minimum degree 
of slope. 

r. Simplicity of outline. 

d. Proportion in regard to the height and width of 



208 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

the letters, and the thickness of the lines. If the height 
be too great for the width, the closeness of the letters 
perplexes the eye. If the width be too great for the 
height, the eye has further to travel to gather up the 
sum of the whole. In either case distinctness is im- 
paired ; the want of proportion in the lengths of the 
parts of certain letters is a common cause of indistinct- 
ness; e. g., in d, t, 1, q, g, etc. If the lines or loops are 
made too long, they extend into the writing abov^ or 
below, causing the whole to assume a tangled appearance- 
In the matter of thickness, various faults are com- 
mitted : — 

(1) The lines may be too light for the size of the 
letter. 

(2) They may be too thick for the size of the letter, 
whicli produces the ''heavy" hand. 

(3) There may be a strong and irregular contrast 
between light and heavy in the same line, which makes 
a "jerking" hand, the most indistinct of the three. 

e. The proper separation of words and the proper 
joining of characters, i. e., the formation of all characters 
and parts of characters that admit of it, by one continu- 
ous motion of the hand. 

II. MECHANICAL CONDITIONS. 

Under mechanical conditions may be considered the 
adjustment of the furniture, and the position of the 
body, and writing materials. 

1. Adjustment of furniture. 

Th» adjustment of furniture should be in regard to 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



209 



the relation of the parts to each other, and of the whole 
to the age of the pupils. 

The pupil when seated should be perfectly steady and 
have complete command over his materials. If the 
seat be too high and without support for the feet, the 
pupil's position must be unsteady, and his work of the 
same character; if the desk be too high for the seat, he 
will not have control over his arm in writing. The edge 
of the desk should be on a level with his elbow when 
he is seated ; the top of the desk should be sloped but 
slightly, and should be broad enough to prevent the 
copy-book from folding over its outer edge. The desks 
should be arranged so as to allow the pupils to observe 
the teacher's illustrations on the board without chang- 
ing their position, and so that the light shall fall on 
them from the pupil's left. A moderate front light is 
the next best. ' 

2. Position of body. 

The posture of the pupil should be natural and 
easy; he should therefore sit upright at the desk, or 
nearly so, not leaning his breast on the edge of it, but 
turning the left side shghtly toward it, steadying the 
body by resting the lower part of the left arm on the 
desk, and having his right arm free to support its own 
weight on the muscles of the forearm and the third 
and fourth fingers. If he is allowed to bend forward 
or to twist his posture in any way, his point of view 
is such as to prevent him from judging of the quali- 
ties of the work he is performing. The posture should 
be attended to very carefully at the outset, when it is as 



14 



210 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

easy for the pupil to adopt the right one as the wrong ; 
a bad habit will become very difficult to correct. 

3. Writing materials. 

The materials used in writing should be good and 
kept in good order. The teacher should have very 
explicit arrangements to secure their proper keeping. 
To prevent copy-books from being ill used, they should 
be delivered to and taken from the pupils at the begin- 
ning and close of each lesson. By a very simple ar- 
rangement, the teacher may secure that each pupil shall 
have his own pen and pen-wiper as well as his own 
copy-book. Such arrangements should be attended to 
both for economy and for moral considerations. Finally, 
the pupil should be taught to use his materials properly ; 
e. g., "to hold the pen lightl}^ yet steadily between the 
first and second fingers at a certain distance from the 
point of the pen, directed toward the shoulder, but so 
that the point shall fall squarely upon the copy, the 
fingers which hold it being neither too stiff nor too 
much bent, the others quite at rest, and the hand as a 
whole not turned over too much upon its edge; to have 
his copy-book squarely before him, neither too near nor 
too far from him, somewhat toward the right and 
steadied by the left hand." 

III. BASIS, I. E., PSYCHICAL CONDITION. 

The basis, or psychical condition for writing, is the 
knowledge and power gained through elementary draw- 
ing. The perception of form requires cultivation like 
any other exercise of the senses. The eye cannot appre- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 211 



ciate an intricate form, if it has not been exercised upon 
a succession of simpler forms leading up to it. The 
pupil should therefore bring to his writing an educated 
eye. The forms he is called on to imitate are complex ; 
the simplest of them is so when observed for the first 
time. If he has not been taught to observe accurately, 
he cannot be expected to imitate accurately. He should 
know what a straight line is in its different positions of 
vertical, horizontal, and oblique ; he should recognize 
equality and difference of lengths, widths, and thick- 
nesses, and he should be acquainted with the simpler 
curves, and the simpler combinations of curves with 
straight lines. Without such an experience of form he 
can make but slow progress in writing ; if he does not 
bring it with him to this art, he must work it out for 
himself in his first attempts, but his advancement will 
be of necessity slow on this account. It may be said 
that writing should be based on drawing; it is a species 
of drawing, and any instruction in drawing, therefore, 
which the pupil receives may be expected to bear fruit 
in the improvement of his writing. When the eye is 
educated to observe, and the hand to execute correct 
and graceful forms of objects in general, the taste for 
form is refined • and it cannot but happen that the cul- 
ture thus given will show itself in any special branch of 
instruction in form. 



The various methods of writing that require con- 
sideration are the letter method, the element method, 
the sentence method, and the combination method. 



212 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Each of the first three methods will be treated under 
nature and objections ; and the last under nature and 
application. 

THE LETTER METHOD. 

1. Nature. 

The nature of this method is sufficiently set forth by 
indicating its various stages. These are : — 
a. Instruction as to furniture and posture. 
Ik Instruction as to the use of materials. 

c. The furnishing of sheets of paper or regular copy- 
books upon which are printed in script the characters 
of the alphabet, in red ink and of a larger size than that 
to be used in ordinary writing. The characters are 
printed in red in order that the subsequent tracing may 
be easily seen; and are larger than those to be afterwards 
used, on the ground that one naturally comes by degrees 
to write a smaller hand than the one at first taught, but 
never a larger. 

d. Instruction in regard to the place of beginning, 
and manner of forming each letter. 

e. The tracing of the letters of the copy, using pen 
and black ink. 

/. Exercises in forming the letters on blank writing 
paper. 

2. Objections. 

The objections to this method are obviously : — 

a. That it is too largely imitative and mechanical. 

h. That it is incomplete. 

(See Locke's Essays on education.) 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 213 



THE ELEMENT METHOD. 

1. Nature. 

a. General features. 

These are : — 

(1) The analysis of the letters into elements. 

( 2 ) The formation of the elements from imitation 
and dictation. 

(3} The formation of the letters from dictation upon 
copy-books so ruled as to give an opportunity to accu- 
rately measure the parts of the letters. 

(4) The writing of words and sentences in the same 
manner and upon the same kind of copy-books. 

h. The stages under "(1)" in detail. 

In the treatment of elements as parts of the letters, 
this method proceeds by a series of separate stages : — 

(1) That in. which the pupil is taught — 

That there are two kinds of lines used in writing 
— the straight line, extending upwards or downwards, 
and the curved line, extending to the right or to the left. 

(6) That from these two kinds of lines are obtained 
the four elements by the use of which the twenty-six 
letters are formed. To these is added what by some 
is considered a separate element, and is termed the 
crotchet. 

(2) That which exhibits the straight line as of dif- 
ferent lengths, but of uniform slope. 

(3) That which gives a knowledge of the link or 
curve that joins two straight lines at their lower ex- 
tremities. 



^14 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

(4) That in which the hook or curve that joins 
two straight lines at their upper extremities, is taught. 

(5) That which explains the single upper curve, the 
single under curve, and the double curve. 

(6) That which gives instruction in regard to the 
combination of the straight line, the curve and the link. 

(7) That which explains letters involving the loop. 

(8) That which presents letters involving the ele- 
ment termed the crotchet. (Horizontal right curve.) 

(9 ) A final stage in which all letters that combine 
elements in an exceptional manner are explained. 

Each stage is dwelt upon until the pupil becomes 
familiar with its specific work, and until he can com- 
bine its work with that of previous stages. 

2. Objections. 

This method is an attempt to remove the objec- 
tions to previous methods in writing ; i. e., the placing 
of the complex before the simple, and the employment 
of mechanical instead of intelligent modes of imitation. 
This object is accomplished since in this method the 
procedure is regularly from the simple to the complex, 
and since it enables the pupil to recognize each element 
in simple or difficult combinations ; to determine the 
slope, height, and width of each part of each letter, 
and to detect and correct errors. In attaining these 
ends, however, the method presents two objections of 
its own. 

a. It is strictly and exhaustively synthetic. It has 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 215 

been correctly said that the analysis that is made for the 
first stage of elementary teaching should not descend to 
the smallest parts possible, but should stop at the small- 
est parts that the pupils can appreciate ; it is with the 
latter, therefore, that synthetic instruction for children 
should begin, and not with the former. If these limits 
are not regarded, the work passes beyond the range of 
their intelligence and sympathy. The synthetic prin- 
ciple, if logically and fully carried out, means that the- 
ory is to precede practice in elementary education. 

h. While in this method, imitation is based on in- 
telligent instruction, the practice afforded by it is very 
mechanical. 

(See accounts of Mulhauser's method.) 

THE SENTENCE METHOD. 

1. Nature. 

This method begins at once with the writing of sen- 
tences. The pupils are required to take sentences of 
their own, or sentences that have been explained to 
them and which they have committed to memory, and 
to write them and their variations ; e. g., if the first sen- 
tence written is " The fire burns," it will then be writ- 
ten, " The large fire burns," " The large fire burns 
brightly," etc. It will be seen that the method relies on 
the motive which can be presented to the pupils for 
careful and diligent work, in the interest they naturally 
take in the endeavor to write their own thoughts, or at 
least, something which they understand. 



216 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

2. Objections. 

These are : — 

a. The complexity involved in dealing with whole 
sentences at the beginning. 

h. That while it cultivates the intelligence in certain 
directions, it does not specially advance that intelli- 
gence which is peculiar to writing — intelligence of 
movement and form. 

THE COMBINATION METHOD. 

1. Nature. 

a. Order of procedure. 

The three main principles to be observed in writing 
are : — 

(1.) Writing should be acquired, to a degree, inci- 
dentally, in connection with the endeavor to express 
thought. 

(2.) The child should not be left to his individual 
inclination, but should acquire from the very first that 
style of writing which has been settled upon as the 
standard. 

(3.) The power of forming smooth, continuous lines 
should be acquired. 

These principles indicate three corresponding stages. 

(1.) That stage beginning after a short period of 
practice in drawing, and in printing words, in which the 
child gives expression in script to his thoughts, in read- 
ing, spelling, and in various other lessons. This kind 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL- 217 



of work continues, of course, throughout the school 
course. In this stage capital letters are used whenever 
necessary. 

(2.) That stage in which the child is trained to 
thoroughly master the form of each letter. This and 
the first stage progress hand in hand, the first stage 
furnishing the application, and giving the power to 
combine letters into words and sentences, while the 
second is conferring the accurate mastery of the ac- 
cepted form of each letter. Each letter should be dwelt 
upon until it is thoroughly mastered. 

In teaching the small letters, which are taken up be- 
fore the capitals for the obvious reason of their greater 
simplicity and more general use, opinions differ as to 
the order, some beginning with the letter i, some with 
0, etc. 

The natural order would seem to be to begin with the 
straight line combined with the curve, as in i ; and t ; 
then the complete curve as in o ; then the combination 
of the straight line with the loop, as in j. The letters 
should be taken in the order of their simplicity as com- 
posed of these elements, so that letters of similar forma- 
tion will occur together. The few exceptional forms 
should be taken last. When the pupil has advanced to 
the writing of words, the capital letters should be gradu- 
ally introduced, and in the same spirit of teaching as 
the small letters. 

(3.) That stage in which the pupil is trained to the 
proper movement. This begins at the stage of the use 



218 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

of the pen and ink, about the beginning of the third 
year. 

Position, movement, etc., in application in order not 
to negate, but to supplement this stage, should be the 
same as in the practice in this stage. 

h. Adherence to copy. 

Experience shows that frequently the pupils do not 
imitate the copy, or if they do so at all, only for the 
first few lines, and as they descend the page they gradu- 
ally lose sight of the model, and imitate either their 
impression of it, or their own writing. 

There are four things that assist in preventing this : — 

( 1) Copy-books with from four to six lines. 

(2) A sliding copy. 

(3) Careful oversight of the work of each line, and 
correction of all errors that occur, always with direct 
reference to the copy. 

(4) The correction of prevalent errors at the board 
with reference to the copy. 

2 Application. 

It has been justly urged that the writing exercises are 
too exclusively formal. The combination method gives 
prominence at all stages to the application of writing. 
The interest that attaches to this is felt to be an addi- 
tional incentive to care and diligence. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



219 



METHOD IN SPELLING. 



f 1. Design. 
2. Principles -{ 



A diagram of the work in spelling may be given as 
follows : — 

f a. Familiarity of the eye with the form. 
I b. Association of form and meaning. 

c. Mainly written work. 
[ d. From simple to complex, 
fa. Copy. 

Spelling^ b. Dictation. 

3. Stages. \ 

c. Application. 

d. Analysis. 

4. Syllabication. 

5. Grouping. 
L6. Rules. 

The ultimate design in learning to spell is to gain the 
power to write words correctly when expressing one's 
thought. 

The principles are four : 

1. Spelling deals with the forms of words, and the 
eye of the pupil should therefore be made familiar with 
the forms by repeated observation before^he is required 
to reproduce them in writing. 

2. In teaching spelling, the principle that all instruc- 
tion in the forms of a language should be based upon a 



220 thp: theory of the school. 

comprehension of the meaning, should be observed, on 
the ground that the sense of a word or passage is a 
stronger and more interesting bond of association than 
the appearance or sound. 

3. Since the pupil learns the spelling of words in 
order that he may write them, the instruction should 
be mainly through the art to which spelling is to be 
applied in after life, and only subordinately through 
oral work. 

4. Instruction should proceed from the simple to 
the complex. 

In the light of these principles the stages in spelHng 
are four. 

1. Copy-work, the simplest form of spelling. 

2. The reproduction, in dictation exercises, of words 
previously learned, a more difficult form of spelling. 

3. The spelling of the necessary words when the 
thought is fixed upon the idea which is being ex- 
pressed, a still more difficult work. 

4. The analysis of difficult combinations with a state- 
ment of the reasons for their difficulty, a work the most 
complex of the four kinds. 

A pupil should be required to copy accurately and 
readily before he is given the more difficult work of 
reproducing from memory. "That which we know 
thoroughly,'' wgs said by Jacotot, "contains the explana- 
tion of the unknown." "The end is in the beginning." 

Success in teaching spelling depends upon thorough- 
ness. It is not the amount but the manner of doing it. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 221 

The vagve forms are to be made perfectly distinct forms 
to the eye by writing before passing to others. 

To develop power to reproduce from memory : After 
a word lias been copied from the board, erase it, and 
have it reproduced from memory. Do the same with 
two words, three, a short sentence, etc. Regulate the 
work by the pupil's power to do it accurately. Train 
him to do exactly what he is asked to do. 

When he can c(ypy and reproduce readily and accurately, 
he is prepared for the spelling of words that are used to 
express his original thought, i. e., the words used in 
com'position. 

During the time the pupil is acquiring facility in 
co])ying and reproducing, attention should be given to 
developing his powers of observation and description by 
lessons on color, form, animals, etc., and by inducing 
him to talk freely on all sulyects that come within the 
range of his observation. 

After a period of using words in the expression of 
original thought, the pupil is prepared for the fourth 
stage — the stage of difficult combinations. 

The difficulty of English spelling arises from the va- 
riety of combinations employed to represent the ele- 
mentary sounds. For example, the short sound of e 
may be represented in eleven different ways, as is 
shown by the words web, head, again, aesthetics, any, 
nonpareil, leopard, bury, friend, guess, says. 

This difficulty is to be overcome by — 

1. Concentrating the attention upon only such words 
as involve difficult combinations. 



222 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

2. Mastering tables of equivalents for elementary 
sounds. For example — 

The name sound of a is represented in twelve ways: — 

In many words by a, as ale ; by ai, as ail, and by ay, 

as bay. In a few words by ey, as they : ei, as veil ; ea, 

as break ; ua, as guage ; oa, as gaol ; aa, as Aaron ; e and 

ee, as melee ; aye (meaning ever.) 

3. Analysis with open book, in order that both the 
eye and the ear may be addressed. For example, the 
word police. The pupil pronounces and spells the word 
from the book, thus : "Po-lice, police;" it is a difficult 
word because the name sound of e is represented by 
i, and not by one of the more frequent modes— e, ea, 
ee, ei, ie. There are twelve ways to represent this sound. 
The word is more difficult to spell, because the sound 
of s is represented by ce. 

The first stage occupies the first year; the second, the 
second year ; the third, from the beginning of the third 
year to the end of the seventh year; and the fourth, the 
eighth year. 

According to the principle of Comenius, however, that 
' nature does nothing by leaps,'' the work of any given 
stage appears in a subordinate degree in the preceding 
stage ; there is also combination as the pupil passes 
from stage to stage. 

Correct spelling requires not only a proper order of 
letters in a word, but a proper division of syllables. The 
practice of spelling by syllables should therefore be fol- 
lowed; not only will it cost no additional trouble, but it 
will most materially diminish the difficulties of spell- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 223 

ing, since errors are most frequently caused by the pupil 
falling into confusion from the length of the words, 
which difficulty this practice would prevent. The most 
expeditious and effective way of spelling by syllables is 
simply to require a slight pause at the end of each. 

In the grouping of words for spelling, the main classi- 
fication should be three : — 

1. A grouping of words that present difficult com- 
binations for elementary sounds. 

2. A grouping of words that have the same pronun- 
ciation as certain other words, but a different spelling 
and meaning. 

3. A grouping of words that have two or more pro- 
nunciations and meanings. 

In dealing with words of the second class, the pupil 
should be required to spell and define the other words 
having the sam6 pronunciation. 

In considering the words of the third class, the pupil 
should give the other pronunciations and meanings. 

Other bases of classification also may be employed to 
give additional interest and profit to the work. For 
example, the pupils may be required to group and spell 
words that denote articles of food, drink, clothing and 
furniture; articles used for writing, building, traveling, 
etc.; the names of qualities belonging to any object ; the 
words which are formed from one root; the names of 
individuals and species comprehended under one genus. 
This exercise may obviously be framed to suit any stage 
of advancement, considering the various principles of 
classification which may be followed, viz., the forms of 



224 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

words, their meanings, their derivation, and their logi- 
cal relation; and it is valuable not only for the practice 
in spelling which it affords, but for what it teaches of 
the use of words, and for the mental exercise implied 
in the classification. It is equally suited for writing 
and for oral instruction. 

In regard to rules of spelling, it is to be held in mind 
that spelling is a habit of the eye and ear, and not of 
rule or reason. Rules have, however, their place in 
spelling work, but it is a subordinate and concluding 
one, as the subject of spelling should be substantially 
mastered before the pupils enter upon a consideration 
of rules. The rules learned should be those that are 
most general in their application, and least encumbered 
with exceptions, and they should be the outgrowth of 
observation, comparison and inference. 

Incidental spelling, naturally and necessarily appears 
at all stages of primary and intermediate school work. 
It has been correctly said that all lessons are language 
lessons; for the words used in them must be made 
familiar to the class both in meaning and form. Thus 
the object-lesson gives opportunity for spelling the 
names of common objects, qualities and actions; the form 
and color lesson, the names and qualities of commonly 
occurring forms and colors, the lesson on number, the 
names of the numbers, cardinal and ordinal; and read- 
ing and general lessons, the names of important places 
and persons, in addition to many of those already enu- 
merated. 

Where these names do not occur to the class for the 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



225 



first time, the spelling of them may be asked for at 
once; when they are new, they should be presented on 
the blackboard, that the class may observe their forms 
before spelUng them from memory. 

Incidental spelling is a very profitable exercise, from 
the strict connection which it maintains between the 
spelling of words and their meanings. It is to be, how- 
ever, only incidental. 



METHOD OP WORD EXPLANATION. 



'Phe power to use words with intelligent precision is 
no small indication of the value of the education one 
has received. Educators generally, hold that one great 
design of all instruction is to give power in the use of 
language. It is evident that good general lessons always 
tend to fix in the mind of the pupil the terms for the 
things and actions considered, and for the qualities of 
the things and actions; while all lessons on number and 
form are efficient means in increasing his vocabulary. 
Indeed, Mr. Grube sets forth as one of the principal 
aims of number work, its purpose to give skill in the use 
of language. It is certainly very clear that this is an 
important feature of such lessons as have been indicated, 
and that, should these lessons not make the pupil 
familiar at least with the principal terms used, there 
would be reason for considering them as having fallen 
short of the accomplishment of their full design, how- 
ever successful in other respects. 
In this early oral instruction the pupil will become 



15 



226 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

familiar, in the main, with simple or primitive words, 
i. e., with those words from which, by change or addi- 
tion, others are derived. It is a principle that in learn- 
ing the words in this early work, a knowledge of the 
form must be based upon a knowledge of the signifi- 
cance. This implies that the process of explaining the 
words should be one of illustration by example, in 
which the thing, action, or quality denoted by the word 
is submitted to the pupil's observation, or verified from 
his experience at the time the word is presented. 

The reading work of the first three years presents the 
pupil with those words, mainly, with which he is al- 
ready familiar orally; but by the fourth year, or when- 
ever the Third Reader is used, he has obtained sucli 
facility in reading that he may begin the study of 
derived words. There should be some regular provi- 
sion for explaining these words in connection with the 
reading work. 

It is to be noted: — 

1. That the words gained in the first three years are 
for the most part primitive words. 

2. Til at they are explained by example. 

3. That the words to be mastered in the Third Reader 
grade consists mainly of secondary or derived words 
which have already been treated in their simple form 
by example, and may therefore be comprehended in the 
derived form without employing the method of illustra- 
tion by example. 

In considering the treatment of derived words two 
questions present themselves : — 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 227 



1. Which shall be treated first, the prefixes or the 
affixes ? 

2. Which shall be treated first, the Saxon prefixes or 
the Latin prefixes ? 

As between the prefixes and the affixes a decision is 
reached by considering the fact that the words to which 
affixes are added are simple English words which the 
pupils already understand. 

As between the Saxon and the Latin prefixes, the an- 
swer will be evident when it is remembered — 

1. That the Saxon prefixes are added to simple Eng- 
lish words that are already familiar. 

2. That the syllables to which the Latin prefixes are 
added are not simple English words, and not even words 
at all in themselves. 

3. That the Latin prefixes assume various forms. 
The Latin J)refixes have one important advantage, 

however, in their distinct and unvarying meanings. 
The order of presentation is, then : — 

1. Affixes. 

2. Prefixes. 

a. Saxon. 
6. Latin. 

(1) The original form. 

(2) The assimiliated form. 

The general nature of the instruction in words may 
be shown as follows : — 

If the class are studying the reading lesson on page 
fifty-two of McGuff'ey's Third Reader, they will, in their 
treatment of it, consider the word banker. 



228 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

There are five steps that may be taken with this 
word : — 

1. To obtain the meaning — one who banks, or one 
who carries on banking. 

2. To have its difference frombnnk pointed out. 

3. To obtain other words having the same ending; as, 
writer, gardener. 

4. To obtain their meaning ; as, one who writes; one 
who gardens. 

5. To lead the class to infer that the affix er denotes 
one who does a thing. 

It will be seen from the foregoing, that the work is to 
be oral, requiring no text-book other than the reader in 
use; that the results are obtained by analyzing words, 
with whose meanings the class is familiar, and by infer- 
ence based upon observation of that which the analysis 
gives; that words are to be explained in groups, the 
derivative words being formed from their primitives on 
uniform principles, and that tlie work should not be 
begun until the pupil has sufficient knowledge of lan- 
guage to furnish the material for the exercises. 

The full order of presenting words might be indicated 
as follows: 

1. Simple primitive words. 

2. Derived words. 

a. Saxon and Latin affixes. 
h. Saxon prefixes. 

c. Latin prefixes in their various forms. 

d. Roots. 

3. Those modifications of the forms of words that 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 229 



result from the tendency of persons to employ the least 
amount of energy requisite in pronouncing words. 

It was previously said that in the work of the pupil 
during the first three years, he would be dealing, in the 
main, with primitive words, and that he should be made 
familiar with them by the method of illustration by ex- 
ample, in which method, the thing, action, or quality 
denoted by the word, is always submitted to the pupil's 
observation, or verified from his experience at the time 
the word is studied. 

There are three processes of explaining a word, be- 
sides definition, as usually understood. These are: 
explanation proper, which consists in stating the idea in 
the simplest language ; illustration, in the strictest sense; 
and the one referred to, illustration by example. 

These processes could be viewed thus: 

f 1. Explanation proper. 

,«^ 1 1 i. T^ 1 • • C^*- Illustra- 

Methods of Explammg.^ 2. Illustration.] tion proper 

( b. Example 

A clearer idea may be gained by considering specific 
cases. If, in explaining the word bank, one should say, 
"a bank is a place where money is kept, and loaned," 
the method would be explanatiom proper. If, however, in 
explaining this meaning, the attention should be called 
to a picture showing the officers at their places and 
busy; or if the language of metaphor or simile should 
be used in explaining, the method would be illustration 
proper. To explain the meaning of the word by taking 



230 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 

the pupil to some banking establishment and pointing 
out the different transactions, would be to use the 
method of illustration by example. 

In explaining the meaning of the word calyx, when it 
is said, "the calyx is the outer covering of a flower," 
explanation proper is used; when the calyx is spoken of 
as the "leaf-like covering of a flower," or "the cup in 
which the flower is held," or when its form and position 
are shown by a drawing upon the board, or by any pic- 
torial representation, illustration proper is used; when the 
calyx itself is shown to the class at the time the word is 
considered, or when the experience of the class is ap- 
pealed to at the time of explaining the word, illustration 
by example, or example in the strict sense, is used. 

This last method is requisite in dealing with primitive 
words, during the first three or four years. All three 
methods, however, may be used in any grade, and in 
the advanced grades the method of definition may be 
added. 

If all the methods indicated are to be used, the order 
should be, if practicable : — 

1. Explanation proper, or the expression of the idea 
in the simplest language. 

2. Illustration proper. 

3. Example. 

4. Definition. 

This order is in accord with the well-known principles 
of mind that exercise is the law of mental growth ; that 
acquisition is best made when there is a. steady increase of in- 
terest in a lesson; and that the natural procedure is from con- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 231 

ft 

Crete to abstract. For it is held to be obvious that the 
imagination is called into activity much more by the 
order, 1, 2, 3, as given above, than it would be by there- 
versed order 3, 2, 1. It is also clear that with the order 
3,2, 1, the interest would be constantly decreasing; and 
that any modification of the order indicated that would 
change the time of treating a word by definition, would 
be a procedure from abstract to concrete. 

It has already been stated that there are five things 
to be done in studying affixes and prefixes, i. e., to ob- 
tain the meaning of the primitive word ; to have the 
difl:erence between it and the derived word pointed out ; 
to obtain other words in which this difference is found ; 
to determine their meaning; to infer the meaning of the 
affix and prefix, which constitutes the difference between 
the primitive and derived form. 

In considering the different forms of a single prefix, 
the mode of procedure is similar, involving observation, 
comparison, and inference. Thus there would be : — 

1. The observation of a group of words, as, adduce, 
ascend, accompany, affix, aggress, alloy, animadvert, ap- 
plaud, assign, arrive, and attain. 

2. The comparison of the forms of these words, in 
order to show that ad appears in the forms, ad, a, ac, af, 
an, ap, ar, as, and at. 

In like manner the groups of words in which other 
particular prefixes occur would be observed, and then 
compared in order to determine the separate forms of 
the given prefix. Such a course of observation and 
comparison would make the pupil familiar with all the 



232 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

r 

varieties of the different prefixes, thereby preparing him 
for — 

3. The inference as to the principle on which the 
change of form is based, i. e., that persons are incHned 
to expend the least amount of energy requisite for the 
pronunciation of a word, and that to make similar any 
two adverse sounds, is to lessen the energy required to 
produce them. This will be followed by — 

4. The memoi-izing of all that has been gained con- 
cerning affixes and prefixes. 

At this stage the task assigned to the memory will not 
be severe, because its exercise will now be based upon, 
and aided by, the previous exercise of the powers of 
observation, comparison, and inference. 

In all work upon words, the teacher should hold in 
mind the principle that the time to commit to memory 
a list of words, affixes, prefixes, or roots, is after , by obser- 
vation, comparison, and inference, the pupil has made him- 
self familiar with the individual words, affixes, prefixes, or 
roots. 

When the pupil has been made familiar with primi- 
tive words, affixes, and prefixes in their various forms, 
his attention should be turned to roots of words, or 
rather to the different groups of words, each group 
involving a certain root. 

There are three processes by which the teacher may 
deal with these groups of words. The first and most 
common one is : — 

1. To state the meaning of the root. 

2. To exemplify this meaning by giving words con- 
taining the root. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 



23B 



3. To call for other words involving the root, that 
may occur to the pupil. 

Thus, the root to be considered, in a certain lesson 
may be die. 

1. . The teacher states that the meaning of die is to say 

or to tell. 

2. This meaning is shown by selecting certain words 
involving the root; as, contradict, indict, indite, etc. 

3. The pupils are asked to give words containing the 
root, and such words as diction, dictionary, edict, interdict, 
dictation, etc., are obtained. 

This process, while the most common of the three, is 
of the least educational value, because it violates the 
laws of both method and completeness, and fails to 
give that mental discipline and that mental preparation 
for composition, which either of the other processes will 
give. 

Another process is that which requires : — 

1. The statement of the meaning of the root. 

2. The explanation of the meaning by presenting 
words containing the root. 

3. The giving of the part of speech and the meaning 
of derivatives, in order that the pupil may construct the 
derivatives. 

Using the same root as before— die— the work may be 
indicated as follows : 

1. The statement that the root means to say or tell. 

2. Its exemplification by giving certain words ; as, 
predict, indictable, etc. 

3. Questioning somewhat as follows : 



234 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 

Give a noun denoting one who has the power to say 
what shall be done. — Dictator. 

A noun denoting the act of speaking well of any 
one. — Benediction. 

A noun denoting the act of speaking ill of any one. 
— Malediction. 

A noun denoting that which is said out, and, there- 
fore, that which is proclaimed to a people. — Edict, 

A noun denoting a true saying, and, therefore, that 
which a jury would say concerning the guilt or inno- 
cence of an accused. — Verdict. 

A verb denoting to charge formally with a crime. — 
Indict. 

A verb denoting to tell beforehand. — Predict. 

An adjective denoting anything which may be said of 
something. — Predicable. 

The third process of dealing with roots is in its first 
and second steps the same as the second process, but it 
differs from it in the third step in that the mode of 
questioning is reversed, the teacher giving the derivatives 
himself, and requiring the 'pwpil to give the 'part of speech 
and the meaning. 

It will be seen that the three processes are alike in 
the first and second steps, the difference being in the 
third step. 

The first mode of procedure is not very profitable for 
the reasons given above. 

The second is the process that should be used in the 
main; and the third, being a more severe discipline, 
should follow considerable work under the second. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 235 



In dealing with groups of words, convenient subdi- 
visions are observed by using as the basis of grouping, 
the various prefixes, and this is generally done. 

The basis of division, however, that will disclose more 
clearly the essential nature of the words is the various 
forms in which the roots appear. 

The root of a group of words may assume different 
forms, and these different forms may be considered in a 
study of the group; as, augeo meaning to increase, as- 
sumes three forms — aug^ as seen in augment; aux, as seen 
in auxiliary; and auct, as seen in auction. 

It will be seen, moreover, that a word in any subdi- 
vision of a group, may have a double application, and 
when this is true, there will be two separate sets of 
derivatives originating off that word; for example, defer, 
meaning to put off, furnishes deferer, one who puts off; and 
defer, meaning to yield to the wishes of another, gives defer- 
ence and deferential. 

In all groups of words the attention should be held 
rigidly to these points both because of the increased 
power of discrimination that it gives, and on account of 
the much deeper insight into the meanings of the par- 
ticular groups studied, which such attention would give. 

Enough has been given to show that the original or 
literal meaning is often quite different from the current 
meaning, as, in case of defer. 

Two principles are to be held in mind here: — 

1. Generally, a word does not have different mean- 
ings, but only different applications of one idea which 
it expresses ; e. g., the different meanings, so-called, of 



236 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

defer, are but different applications of its fundamental 
idea — to put off. 

2. The final purpose of word explanation is to give 
skill in determining the current meaning of words, in 
order that this skill may be applied in deciding upon 
the specific meaning of words in reading and other 
lessons. 

In the light of the first principle, it will be evident 
that whenever a word presents a double sense, force and 
prominence are to be given to the literal or root mean- 
ing ; and from the second it will appear that when the 
root meaning will tend to give a wrong idea as to the 
current meaning, this tendency is to be clearly pointed 
out. 

The work in the explanation should not be exhaustive^ 
i.e., not every prefix, affix, and root should be con- 
sidered. 

It should be accurate and thorough ; i. e.. the explana- 
tion of every prefix, annex and root that is considered 
should be clear, accurate and thorough. The main 
inaccuracy that may be observed in schools is that by 
which one part of speech is rendered as an equivalent of 
another. 

A knowledge of Latin is not essential to successful 
work with words. Some knowledge of that language, 
however, would enable the teacher to conduct the work 
more thoroughly and with deeper insight. 

It will be seen from the work given, that the work 
with words is mainly limited to the groups of words 
that come into the English from the Latin. This indi- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 237 

cates the truth that that is the part of our hinguage 
which particularly requires explanation. 

The Saxon part of English language does not so much 
need explanation, because — 

1. It is the pupil's vernacular, which he gains in 
childhood by imitation, conversation, and by illustration 
by example. 

2. This part of English language does not exist in 
large groups like the Latin part, but in small groups 
formed by vowel changes. 

3. Lists of Saxon roots that might be assigned for 
study, are, in the main, given accurately in common 
English words themselves, thus making Saxon deriva- 
tion, in large part, the derivation of English words from 
English words. 

While this is the case, and while derivation ought, in 
general, to deal with the Latin part of the language, 
yet, with advanced pupils, where time allows, it will be 
found to be of great value to consider groups of words 
based on Saxon roots, e. g., Stigan, to mount or climb, 
giving stairs, stile, stirrup, stalk, stack, stage, stag, and story 
as applied to a building. 



METHOD IN NUMBER. 



PRELIMINARY EXERCISES. 



Write statements of what you see in two, in three, in 
in four, and in five. 

Write a comparison of all the numbers in five with 
five. 



238 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Ask five questions involving numbers that make five. 
Make one applied problem in each of the fundamen- 
tal operations. 

Write statements of what you see in seven. 
Compare two with seven. 

Ask five questions that involve numbers that make 
seven. 

Make a cube and write statements of all the things 
that you see in it. 

Define number, addition, sum, addends; the terms in 
multiplication, subtraction, and division. 

Represent the following problems in drawings : 

1. A boy had 5 cubes and gave 2 to his brother; 
how many had he left ? 

2. John had 6 dimes and James had 2 dimes; how 
many more dimes had John than James ? 

3. Henry had 8 marbles; how many 2 marbles had 
he? 

4. If 1 orange costs 3 cents, what will 5 oranges cost 
at the same rate ? 

5. I paid 12c. for 3 apples ; how many cents did 1 
apple cost? 

Make a ball, and then form it into an apple. 

Write statements of the things that may be taught in 
connection with the development of a clear idea of the 
form of the apple. 

Make a 3-inch cube out of paste-board. 

Tell the minuend and subtrahend in the following ex- 
ample : If a boy has 6 apples and another boy has 4 
blocks, how many more apples has the one than the 
other has blocks ? 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 2-39 

Analyze : 

1. A farmer bought 7 sheep and sold 2 of them ; 
how many sheep had he left? 

2. Henry had 7 marbles and Richard had 3 marbles ; 
how many more marbles had Henry than Richard? 

3. If a railroad train runs at the rate of 20 miles an 
hour, how far will it run in 5 hours? 

4. There are 3 ft. in 1 • yd. How many feet are 
there in 4 yds. 

5. Change 5 bu., 3 pk., 1 qt. to qts. 

6. A boy had 6 cents ; how many 2 cents had he ? 

7. A farmer bought some sheep for $12 at $2 a head ; 
how many sheep did he buy ? 

8. A farmer bought 6 sheep for $12 ; what was the 
price per sheep? 

Illustrate by drawings or objects : 

1. Henry had 8 cents and paid 3 cents for an or- 
ange ; how many cents had he left ? 

2. The area of one surface is 9 sq. ft.; of another 5 
sq. ft.; what is the difference in area? 

3. In one day there are 24 hours; how many hours in 
7 days ? 

4. Change 3 yds. 2 ft. to ft. 

5. How many yards of cloth can I buy for $36, if 3 
yards cost $12. 

Analysis : 

1. This is an example in division. 

2. $36 is the dividend. 
2. $12 is the divisor. 



240 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 



4. Three $12, is the quotient. 

5. 9 yards is the answer. 

6. A boy gave 5 peaches to each of six boys, and had 
one-third as many left ; how many had he? 

Analysis : 

1. The example in its first part is one in multi- 

plication. 

2. 5 peaches is the multiplicand. 

3. Six 5 peaches the multiplier. 

4. 30 peaches is the product. 

5. The example in its second part is one in parti- 

tion. 

6. 30 peaches is the dividend. 

7. i of 30 peaches is the divisor. 

8. h of 30 peaches, or 10 peaches, is the 

quotient and the answer. 

7. A man sold 8 barrels of apples at $5 a barrel. 
How many yards of cloth at $4 a yard will the money 
buy ? 

Analysis : 

1. In its first part, the example is one in multi- 

plication. 

2. 15 is the multiplicand. 

3. 8 $5 is the multiplier. 

4. $40 is the product. 

5. In its second part, the example is one in 

division. 

6. $40 is the dividend. 

7. $4 is the divisor. 

8. 10 $4 is the quotient. 



THE THEOUY OF THE SCHOOL. 241 

9. 10 yards is the answer. 

Other examples of analysis: 

If a man earn $4 a day, how much will he earn in 3 
days ? 

p. ^ 1 i $4 is what he earned in 1 day. 
, , ^ -j 3 is the number of days. 
P * ( ? is number of dollars earned. 

"^pu^f ''""^'-^ ! T'^^«« ^"^ ^« ^*"*' he earns. 

Bought 27 cords of wood at $4 a cord, and 88 tons of 
coal (a) $7 a ton. What did both cost ? 

27 is the number of cords of wood. 



riven b ( ^''^ ^^ ^^^ number of cords 

nroblem ^ 1 ^^ ^^ ^^^ P^^^® ^^ ^ ^^^^• 
^ * ( ? is the cost of the wood ? 



To be given-by f 27 U or $108 is the cost of the 
pupil. \ wood. 

riven 1 V ^ ^'^ ^^ ^^^ number of tons of coal. 



Drobleni 1 ^^ ^^ ^'^^ price of 1 ton. 
P * ( ? is the cost of the coal ? 



To be given by ( 38 $7, or $266, is the cost of the 
pupil. I coal. 

Problem. \ ? is the cost of both ? 

P ■ I both. 

Illustrate by dots the terms in addition, subtraction, 
multiplication, division and partition. 



242 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



What is the child's way of determining the area of a 
surface ? 



I I 



I I I 



I I I 



In the above : 

1. Tell all that can be seen in each. 

2. Apply the fundamental processes to them. 

3. Compare the fractions, using the drawings ; as ^ 
with ^, etc. 

4. Make applied problems, using the fractions seen 
in the figures. 

Illustrate and analyze : 

1. A man earns $9 a week, and his son $5. What 
will both earn in five weeks ? 

2. In a square yard how many square inches ? 

3. In 520 pints, how many bushels ? 

4. Bought 4 cords of wood at $4 a cord, and 2 tons 
of hay, at SIO a ton ; how many days' labor at $3 a day 
will pay for both ? 

5. From 32 objects subtract 23 objects. 

6. A boy having $f gave $J for a knife ; how much 
had he left? 

7. A laborer spends f of his money for board, and ^ 
for clothing ; what part has he left? 

8. A man did ^ of a piece of work in one day, \ of 
it the next day, ^ of it the third day ; and the remain- 
der on the fourth day ; what part of the work did he do 
the fourth day ? 



thp: theory of the school. 



243 



9. 1 sold a watch for $55, which was 10 per cent, 
above cost ? What was the cost ? 

Construct a square showmg hundredths. 

1. Find on it the following: 5, per cent., 6 per cent., 
7- per cent., f per cent., 2^ per cent., 8^ per cent., 12 per 
cent., 125 per cent., 200 per cent, 25 per cent., 33^ per 
cent., 37i per cent., 50 per cent. 

Change by the diagram the following into decimals : 

h h h i? h tj "si "9 T"o J tt? tu- 

DEFINITION. 

Number has been said to be the limitation of objects 
by ones. That is, by the idea one, objects, either men- 
tal or material, may be limited, just as material things 
are limited by the ideas red, hard, blue, rough, etc. 

Thus,— objects of various colors and qualities may be 
placed upon a- table, and the request be made : Show 
me the red objects ; point out the things that are hard ; 
bring to the desk all the blue things that you see ; 
which of the objects upon the table are rough ? etc. 

In like manner, the objects being variously arranged, 
it may be said : Show me one ball ; all the one cubes ; 
point out all the two-spheres ; take in your hand a 
three-prisms, etc. It is thus evident that objects are as 
definitely limited by the idea one, as by the idea red. 
The psychological definition of number is—" Number 
is the limitation of things by ones." 

WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH A NUMBER. 

Comenius has said we learn to do things by doing 
them. The truth of this, being granted, it becomes ap- 



244 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

parent that the teacher should answer the question : 
What can be done with a number? 

Experiments show that all that can be done with a 
number is : 

To separate it into unequal numbers. 

To separate it into equal numbers or parts. 

To combine it with a number equal to it. 

To combine it with a number unequal to it. 

WHAT CAN BE KNOWN OF A NUMBER. 

The importance of definitely determining what can 
be known of a number before beginning to teach num- 
ber, can scarcely be overestimated. It gives definite- 
ness to all the work following. 

Of any number, as 6 for example, may be known : — 

1. The number as a whole. 

2. The relations in the number. 

a. Any two unequal numbers that make the num- 
ber, as required by" the following problems : — 

If a boy has five marbles and find finds one more, 
how many has he? 

If the flour for a family costs two dollars a month, 
and the meat four dollars, what is the cost of both for a 
month ? 

b. Any two equal numbers that make the number; 
as required by the following problem : — 

A man earns three dollars in one day, and three dol- 
lars the next day ; how many dollars does he earn in 
the two days ? 

c. Any two unequal numbers into which the number 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 245 

may be separated ; as required by the following prob- 
lems : — 

A boy has six apples and eats one ; how many has he 
remaining ? 

A lady spends four of her six dollars for a hat ; how 
many dollars has she left? 

d. Any two equal numbers into which the number 
may be separated ; as required in the following prob- 
lem : — 

A merchant has six yards of ribbon and sells three ; 
how many remain ? 

e. The number of equal numbers that make the 
number ; as required by the following problems : — 

A man gives one apple to each of six boys ; how 
many apples does he give? 

A boy leaves two pints of milk at each of three 
houses; how many pints does he leave? 

f. The number of equal numbers that are in the 
number; as required by the following problems: — 

A man has six pints of vinegar ; how many quarts 
has he ? 

A grocer wishes to give to poor families six bushels 
of potatoes, one to each family ; to how many families 
can he give ? 

g. The equal parts of a number ; as required by the 
following problems : — 

A miller divides six barrels of flour equally among 
three families ; how many barrels does each family re- 
ceive ? 



246 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



A stationer distributes six pencils equally among six 
boys ; how many pencils does each receive ? 

A druggist has six ounces of quinine and sells one- 
half of what he has to another druggist ; each has then 
how many ounces ? 

A boy having one apple divides it equally among 
five other boys and himself; what part does each re- 
ceive ? 



THE PURPOSE OF NUMBERS AND ARITHMETIC WORK. 



THE CLEAVAGE IDEA OF NUMBER. 

To present any subject well, the teacher must be able 
to strike the cleavage idea. 
In number this is two-fold : — 

1. Number is an attribute or quality of things. 

2. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and divis- 
ion are not properly the fundamental processes of arith- 
metic ; they are the only processes, and are all involved 
in addition. 

Percentage, Compound Numbers, Ratio, Proportion, 
Cube Root, etc., are merely kinds of addition, subtrac- 
tion, multiplication or division, in a new garb, and their 
essential nature, distinctive features, and the relation of 
the new terms to the old ones, should be clearly shown. 

DEFECTS IN PRESENTING NUMBER AND ARITHMETIC. 

The fundamental defect in dealing with arithmetic is 
that expression is treated instead of number. Symbol is 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 247 

taught instead of substance. Arithmetic is made " the 
science of figures and the art of memorizing them and 
the rules for manipulating them." 

This manifests itself in various ways : — 

1. In the failure to teach the ideas and oral terms of 
numbers for a considerable time before beginning the 
work on written symbols. In reading, the child has 
been dealing with ideas and oral terms for six or more 
years before he begins work upon the written word. 

The reason that a year or more is not given to the 
study of real number, or numbered things and oral 
terms, before commencing the work upon figures, is be- 
cause figures are considered to be the real subject in 
number and arithmetic. Being such, the aim is to begin 
to deal with them as soon as possible, and if numbered 
things are used at all, it is merely for the use of explain- 
ing figures. 

2. In dealing with large numbers (in figures) during 
the first three years. This would be impossible if real 
numbers, i. e., numbered objects, (actually or in imagin- 
ation) were dealt with. If the pupil were to thoroughly 
master, during the first three years, real numbers to one 
hundred, with their relations as whole numbers, frac- 
tions, percentage, and in tables, together with the ap- 
propriate symbols, he would be vastly better prepared 
to encounter the actual affairs of life if deprived of 
school advantages at the end of the third year, than if 
he were trained to manipulate figures by rule to hun- 
dreds of millions. 

3. In counting, higher than numbers are learned. 



248 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

Sometimes, directions for the first year's work are 
somewhat as follows : 

"Take numbers to 20. Count to 100. Roman numbers 
to L. This is manifestly work with expression. Count- 
ing and work with Roman numerals should keep strict 
pace with the mastery of numbers. 

If in the second year real numbers are studied to 
twenty, counting and Roman numeral work should ex- 
tend to twenty and no farther. If it goes beyond that 
it becomes mere work with words. 

In counting the word five names one, the fifth one. 
In numbering, the word five inesius five ones. 

4. In the teaching of the various topics as isolated. 
This is to teach the various stages and processes of 
number in such a manner that the relation of one to the 
other is not shown. 

For example, notation is presented, as an isolated 
subject, throughout the range of small and large 
numbers. This is followed by a consideration of numer- 
ation in the same manner, and then addition, etc. 

Such work arises in great measure from teaching ex- 
pression instead of number itself 

If real number, or numbered things are considered it 
will appear that in any one process the three others are 
implied, and that a knowledge of number is a knowledge 
of fractions and percentage. 

Thus one subject, if presented in its natural relations 
is the interpretation of others. 

In the following it 'will be seen that all the processes. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



249 



whole numbers, fractions, and percentage are involved 
in relations that are mutually interpretmp- : 



1 sq. inch 
25 per cent. 









Compare one sq. in., one-fourth, and 25 per cent, with 

the whole. 

Addition.--One sq. in. and three sq. in. are how many 

sq. in.? etc. 

One-fourth, and three-fourths are how many fourths.^ 

ptc 

Twenty-five per cent, and three twenty-five per cents. 

are how many per cent.? etc. 

Multiplication.-¥om one sq. in. are how many sq. m,.^ 

etc ' 

Four one -fourths are how many one-fourths? etc. 
Four twenty-five per cents, are how many per cent.? 

etc 

Subtraction.-¥om sq. in. less one sq. in., are how 

many sq. in.? etc. 

Four fourths less one-fourth are how many fourths.^ 

etc 

One whole, less twenty-five per cent, are how many 

per cent.? etc. 

Division.-ln four sq. in., there are how many one sq. 
in.? How many two sq. in.? etc. 

In four fourths there are how many one-fourths ? How 
many two-fourths? etc. 

In one whole, or one hundred per cent., there are how 



250 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



many twenty-five per cents.? How many fifty per 
cents.? etc. 

Partition. — One-fourth of four sq. in. are how many 
sq. in.? etc. 

One-fourth of four-fourths are how many fourths? etc. 
Twenty-five per cent, of one hundred per cent, are how 
many per cent.? etc. 

State all the facts that may be seen in the figure. 

One-half of one-half of four sq. in. is what part of 
three sq. in.? 

What part of three-fourths of four sq. in. is one-half of 
four sq. in. 

Fifty per cent, of fifty per cent, of one hundred per 
cent is what part of seventy-five per cent. 

What part of seventy-five per cent, of one hundred per 
cent is one-half of four-fourths ? 

Twenty-five per cent, is what per cent of seventy-five 
per cent, of four sq. in.? etc. 

The relation of topics will be exhibited more fully 
under Outline of Work. 

5. In the failure to 'picture out' to the minds of the 
pupils the conditions of the problems. It is no absolute 
proof of the pupil's comprehension of the relations in a 
problem, that he is able to give the process and result in 
words or figures. In beginning new work, whether in 
primary or advanced stages, the relations should be 
shown by numbered things, or by illustration. This 
should be true in all primary work (employing either 
the observation or imagination) where development by 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 251 

thinking concerning things and their relations is the 
principal idea. 

Consider for example the following problems : 

If one orange costs three cents, what will five oranges 
cost? (Primary work). 

A man left -f- of his estate to his elder son, 4 of the re- 
mainder to his second son, and the rest to his 
daughter, which was $1440 less than the younger son 
received. What was the value of the estate? (More ad- 
vanced work). 

One way of considering the first, and the one growing 
out of a prominent study of expression is to give : 

1. Statement. — If one orange cost three cents what 
will five oranges cost? 

2. The analysis. — If one orange costs three cents, five 
oranges will cost five times (?) three cents, which are 
fifteen cents. 

3. The conclusion. — Therefore, if one orange costs 
three cents, five oranges will cost fifteen cents. 

Another way to consider it is to represent the con- 
ditions thus : 

O O O O O 

000 000 000 OOO 000 

The child may then be led to say : 

1. I see that there are as many three cents as there 
are oranges : 

2. The problem is one in multiplication. 

3. Three cents is the multiplicand ; five three-cents 
are the multiplier; fifteen cents is the product. 



252 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

One way of considering the second, and the one re- 
sulting from a study of expression, is to give, as before : 

1. Statement. — A man left f of his estate, etc. 

2. The analysis. — 

If a man left f of his estate to his elder son, and ^ of 
the remainder to his second son, the first step is to find 
the remainder. 

Since the whole estate was ^ and he left f of it to his 
elder son, the remainder was the difference between } 
and f or f . 

Second step. If he left ^ of the remainder to his 
second son, and the remainder was f of the estate he left 
to his second son ^ of ^ of the estate. | of f is ^ and ^ 
of f is 4 times ^ or if. Therefore, he gave to his second 
son Jf of the estate. 

Third step. If the man left the rest to his daughter, 
he left to her the difference between ^ or the whole 
estate and the sum of f left to the elder son and ^ left 
to the younger son. f = ii. Ii + il is li- H (or the 
whole estate)—!^ (given to the two sons) = if, left to 
the daughter. 

Fourth step. But the amount received by the daughter 
was $1440 less than that received by the younger son. 

The amount received by the younger son was Jf , and 
by the daughter was ^. Therefore, $1440 was such a 
part of the estate as the difference between ^ and ^ 
or 4%. 

Fifth step. If ^ of the estate was $1440, ^ was J of 
$1440 or $360, and |f or the whole estate was 49 times 
$360 or $17,640. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



253 



3. The conclusion. — 

Therefore : If a man left f of his 



estate to his elder 



son and f of the remainder to his second son, and the 
remainder to his daughter ; and the amount received by 
the daughter was $1440 less than that received by the 
younger son, the value of the estate was $17,640. 

A different way to deal with the problem given, is : — 

1. To picture it out thus : 



1 1 1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 1 1 1 


1 1 1 1 1 1 


i 1 1 1 1 1 


-T 1 1 1 1 1 



2 To have the analysis given somewhat as follows: 

1. It is seen' that the value of ^ is $1440. 

2. The problem is first one in partition. 

3. $1440 is the dividend ; I of $1440, is the divisor; 
$360 is the quotent. 

The work now involves multiplication. 

$360 is the multiplicand. Forty-nine $360, are the 
multiplier. 

$17,640, is the product — the value of the estate. 

6. In the pupil's acceptance without question, of a 
number of expressions, the truth or advantage of which 
are questioned by many. 

Among these are : 

(a.) The multiplier is always abstract. 

(6.) The statement that such sentences as 3 of i ex- 
press cases in the multiplication of fractions. 



254 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

(c.) The assertion that the work indicated by the fol- 
lowing is possible : 

i -^ 1 ; 7 is what part of 3? 

(d ) That the word "times" as used in multiplication 
and the word "from" as used in subtraction express the 
exact truth, or are necessary. 

These may be noticed briefly in their order : 

(rt.) From some cause the pupils have invested the 
multiplier with personality, seeming to regard it as a 
very active but invisible Homunculus. 

The multiplier is, however, no more active, no more a 
"doer" or a "taker" than is the multiplicand. It always 
includes the multiplicand. AlU number is, in reality, 
abstract, but the multiplier not more than any other 
number. Whenever the multiplicand is concrete, the 
multiplier is, and whenever the multiplicand is abstract 
the multiplier is also. This is seen to be of necessity if 
the multiplier always includes the multiplicand. This 
is questioned, however. 

The view that the multiplier includes the multipli- 
cand, and is therefore concrete whenever the multipli- 
cand is, may be seen from the illustration of the follow- 
ing sentence : 

2x3 = 6. 

Taking 2 as the multiplier, 3 as the multiplicand and 
6 as the product, if squares are meant, the sentence 
would read — 

Two 3 squares are 6 squares, and would appear to the 
eye thus : 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



255 



Multiplicand, 



Multiplier. 

The two groups united from the product, and these 
statements seem to follow : — 

Three squares is the multiplicand. 

Two three-squares are the multiplier. 

Six squares is the product. 

(6.) If i^ of -^ indicates that ^ is multiplied by i the 
word multiplied must be used in a sense different from 
its usual significance. 

In the following figures let x r= 1 ; a, ^ of x ; and b, ^ 
of a. 






It is evident that to obtain b, a is not multiplied, but 
divided. 

The only sense in which there is any multiplication is 
in that it requires two parts the size of "a" to constitute 
X, and six the size of "b." 

But this is certainly not a multiplication of "a." 

It is probable that 'such a sentence was originally 
thought to express multiplication, because, to one think- 
ing only of the figures, the result involves symbols 



256 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



capable of expressing (if used separately) larger numbers 
than ^. 

(c.) In considering the question as to whether a 
fraction can be divided by a whole number, as indi- 
cated in I -^ 1, the following diagram may assist: 




Into how many parts the size of x may "a " be sepa- 
rated ? Or, X is contained in " a " how many times ? 

In regard to the second part, " 7 is what part of 3 " is 
not the obvious answer — it is not a part at all ? 

A similar question is — What part of Mexico is North 
America? 

It is sometimes said that while such problems are not 
strictly true, they afford excellent mental discipline. 

To justify one in employing them, however, it would 
be necessary to show that there are not a sufficient num- 
ber of practical problems to furnish the required men- 
tal discipline ; or to make it clear that practical prob- 
lems do not afford that degree of mental discipline af- 
forded by those now under consideration. 

(d.) The difficulty that children have in learning 
the words "times " and "from" as used in arithmetic, 
is well understood by all experienced primary teachers. 

In order to test the exact truth of sentences in arith- 
metic involving the word " times," show with cubes 
that three times any two cubes are six cubes. 

In regard to the word "from," will not the use of ob- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 257 

jects show that two from seven leave five? Is there in^ 
reality any more " taking away " in subtraction than in 
division or partition? 

STAGES IN NUMBER AND ARITHMETIC. 

Stages in number and arithmetic, as based on mind 
development and the nature of the subject, seem to be 
four in number. 

1. The stage of Perceptmi. 

In this stage the child can not learn numbers and 
their relations except through the medium of objects 
present to the senses. 

This incapacity is the ground for the concrete work 
in giving first ideas of numbers. 

Whether or not objects are to be used in early num- 
ber work is not left to the opinion of the teacher. This 
point is i)redetermined by the nature of child-mind, 
and it only remains for the teacher to study and under- 
stand the material he is training, and to adapt the 
work to it. 

The concrete work that is done should not, however, 
be for the purpose of illustrating the meaning of fig- 
ures, with the idea that the children are afterwards to 
deal with addition, subtraction, multiplication, divis- 
ion and partition by means of figures. The work with 
objects is to give ideas of numbers and their relations ; 
to teach the processes, and to give the pupil skill and 
accuracy in performing them, and in applying them to 
practical problems. The distinction between numbers 
and figures is important. Figures are but arbitrary 

17 



258 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

^igns, representing numbers, and teaching the use and 
meaning of figures is essentially language work, not 
number work. 

To teach this language before the pupil has learned 
number with objects is to fill his mind with useless 
lumber, and to destroy, in a large measure, his inborn 
desire to know. 

This mistake is less only than that of teaching fig- 
ures to give first ideas of numbers, and of assuming 
that in studying figures one is learning numbers. 

The objects to be used in the work should be various. 
Among them may be mentioned : form, in wood, paper 
(paper folding), and drawings; grouped objects, as 
brace, span, yoke, etc.; units of measure, as pint, peck, 
inch, etc.; objects in room, as window-panes, lines, 
corners, doors, pieces of furniture, pictures, etc.; parts of 
animals ; parts of plants and flowers ; kinds of miner- 
als ; fingers ; the pupils themselves ; miscellaneous ob- 
jects, as shells, pieces of chalk, pegs, etc.; kindergarten 
material, especially the first six gifts ; the abacus. 

Since the aim in using objects is to ultimately free 
the mind from the necessity of using them, they should 
be wide in range. 

Since interest is the basis of attention, they should be 
of such a nature that the child can conveniently han- 
dle them. Since they are used for the purpose of giv- 
ing ideas of number they should not be so attractive as 
to draw the attention from the idea of number. 

The stage of perception covers, approximately, the 
work of the first year. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 259 

2. The Stage of Imagination. 

This stage occupies about the time of the second and 
third years. But the mind has now advanced to that 
degree of power which enables it to study numbers and 
their rehitions by means or objects absent to the senses, 
but present in the imagination. According to the prin- 
ciple that " Nature does nothing per saltum,^^ there is to 
be no sudden transition from the first to this stage, the 
withdrawal of objects being gradual, and being deter- 
mined by the pupil's ability to image absent objects. 

The purpose of the stage is to make the pupil rapid 
and accurate in his power to think numbers and 
their relations by means of objects present to the im- 
agination. This is the stage in which most work in the 
picturing out of the conditions of problems to the 
mind by means of drawing or sketching is done. 

3. The Stage of Transition. 

This stage includes, approximately, the period of the 
fourth year in school. In the first part of the year the 
mind is more largely engaged in thinking the relations 
of numbers by means of objects present to the imagina- 
tion, and yet it is growing more and more into the habit 
of considering numbers through figures. In the second 
part of the year the mind is engaged more largely in 
the consideration of numbers and their relations 
through symbols, while to a considerable extent en-^ 
gaged in a study of them by means of objects present 
to the imagination. Hence, the stage is termed the 
stage of transition. 

4. The Stage of Symbol and Rule. 



260 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

This stage, beginning about the fifth year, extends 
throughout the remainder of the work in arithmetic. 

PRINCIPLES. 

Among the principles to be considered in the work in 
Number are the following : — 

1. Number work should be concrete: Nature does 
nothing per saltum,. 

2. Small numbers should be employed in elemen- 
tary work, and in giving first ideas of each branch of 
work. 

3. All the processes are implied in addition. 

4. Numeration is the process of gaining ideas of 
numbers and their oral terms ; and it bears the same 
relation to notation that gaining the ideas and oral 
terms in reading, does to the mastery of the printed 
terms. 

5. Numeration is practical and theoretical — prac- 
tical when it presents a number as composed of so many 
units of the same kind ; and theoretical when it pre- 
sents a number as composed of so many units of the 
same kind ; and also as composed of units different in 
kind, and having the relation of one to ten. 

6. Notation is consequently practical and theoret- 
ical. 

NUMERATION AND NOTATION. 

Theoretic numeration and notation, as below de- 
scribed, may be explained when the number ten is 
reached, or the time may be determined by the neces- 



THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 261 

sity for the use of the ideas. This would place the 
time of explanation sometime in the second year, or at 
the beginning of the third. It is best, probably, to de- 
fer it until the beginning of the third year. 

Numeration is not used here to indicate the process 
of naming the successive places in a written number, 
but to indicate the process by which ideas of the sepa- 
rate numbers are gained. It bears the same relation to 
notation that in reading the gaining of an idea does to 
the gaining of a knowledge of the visible symbol for it. 
Numeration may be considered as practical and as 
theoretical. 

In practical numeration the number three is taught 
as a whole composed of three ones of the same kind 
(units) ; the number eleven is taught as a whole com- 
posed of eleven ones of the same kind (units); the 
number nineteen is taught as a whole composed of 
nineteen ones of the same kind, (units), etc. 

In theoretical numeration the number three, and all 
numbers between one and nine inclusive, are taught as 
in practical numeration ; the number eleven is taught 
as a whole composed of two kinds of ones (unit and 
ten), and the relative value of the ones is shown. It is 
also taught as a whole composed of eleven ones (units) ; 
the number nineteen is taught as a whole composed of 
nine ones of one kind (units) and one one of another 
kind (ten), and the relative value of the different kinds 
of ones is shown. It is also taught as a whole com- 
posed of nineteen ones (units,) etc. 

When a class enters upon formal arithmetic, i. e., 



262 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

about the beginning of the third year, its first effort is 
to learn theoretical numeration. The principle of theo- 
retical numeration is that a number may be considered 
as divided into successive multiples of ten. 

In regard to the first nine numbers, in practical num- 
eration, it is only necessary to say that they should be 
given as one-unit, two-units, etc. The necessity for 
explanation does not arise until the number ten is 
reached. Two points are to be shown in regard to this 
number : — 

1. That it is to be considered as grouped, as a ten. 

2. The advantage of grouping. 

In preceding beyond ten the reckoning begins with 
units again, viewing them as added to the one ten 
already grouped ; so that the numbers are in succession, 
one ten and one unit; one ten and two units, etc., 
which are to be called for convenience eleven, twelve, 
etc. After twenty the gradual addition of units is re- 
sumed, etc. The grouping of ten tens is to be on the 
same principle as that embodied in grouping ten units, 
etc. 

Notation may likewise be viewed as practical and 
theoretical. 

In practical notation the symbol 3 is taught as a 
whole, a picture, a sign, representing the idea or num- 
ber three ; the symbol 11 is taught as a whole, a picture, 
a sign, representing the idea or number eleven ; the 
symbol 19 is taught as a whole, a picture or sign 
representing the number nineteen, etc. 

In theoretical notation the symbol 3 and all symbols 



THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 263 

from 1 to 9 inclusive are taught as in practical notation ; 
the symbol 11 is taught as a sign composed of two fig- 
ures, one representing one of the two kinds of ones in 
the number eleven, and the other representing the other 
kind of one ; the symbol 19 is taught as a sign com- 
posed of two figures, one representing the nine ones of 
one kind in the number nineteen, and the other repre- 
senting the one one of the other kind, etc. 

It is obvious that it is with the symbol 10 that the 
necessity for explanation arises. The manner of pro- 
cedure is : — 

1. To show that the one ten resembles the one unit 
in being a one, but that it differs from it in value. 

2. To show that therefore the symbol should be like 
that for one unit and yet different from it. 

3. To show, that the same symbol is employed, the 
difference being that it is held in the second place by 
the cipher which in itself expresses no value. 

4. To explain the principle of notation, i. e., that 
the difference in value expressed by a figure is denoted 
by relative position. 

5. To treat of the combination of the symbols for 
tens and units. 

If it has been impressed that one ten is denoted by 
the symbol 1 in the second place from the right, and 
the one unit by the symbol 1 with nothing to its right, 
the pupil will have but little difficulty in seeing that 
one ten and one unit together, or eleven, should be in- 
dicated by two symbols in the relation indicated by 11. 

The point to be made clear is that simple juxtaposi- 



264 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

tion of the symbol for ten with the symbol for one, viz., 
101 would not denote eleven. Great care should be 
taken to show that the cipher is used only to keep fig- 
ures in their proper relative positions. 

If the preceding points are illustrated with sufficient 
clearness the pupils may be led to infer the symbols to 
100, after which they should have various exercises in 
observing, making, and using the symbols. 

The symbol 100 is the next difficult point. The man- 
ner of treating it is analagous to that used in consider- 
ing 10. This symbol should be compared carefully 
with other symbols of three figures, especially with 
111, 110, 101. 

Two points are to be held in mind : one is that the 
pupil should not be held exclusively to theoretical no- 
tation, but may consider in connection with it addition 
and subtraction, since it is futile to attempt to exhaust 
this or any other subject at the time the pupil is intro- 
duced to it: the other is that in the explanation of no- 
tation terms must be used with precision and consist- 
ency. 

The importance of dwelling with care upon numera- 
tion and notation will be evident from the following : — 

1. When the principle of numeration, that a num- 
ber may be considered as divided into the successive 
multiples of ten, is comprehended, every operation be- 
comes a precedent for another ; while otherwise every 
process in arithmetic would be reduced to mere count- 
ing. 

a. Illustration. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



2B5 



2. It is in the light of the principles of numeration 
and notation that the several partial results are ar- 
ranged in the various processes. 

OUTLINE OF WORK. 

Practical numeration of whole numbers to ten. 
Numeration of fractions to tenths. The relations 
in whole numbers to ten. 
^ <j The relations in fractions to tenths. 
"^ The units of measures and their relations in so 
S far as they are involved in numbers from one to 
^ten. 

Practical notation of numbers from one to ten. 

Practical notation of fractions to tenths. 

Practical numeration of numbers from ten to 
twenty. 

Practical notation of numbers from ten to twenty. 

Numerations of fractions to twentieths. 

Notation of fractions to twentieths. 

The units of measures and their relations in so 
far as they are involved in numbers from ten to 
twenty. 

Theoretical numeration of numbers from ten to 
one hundred. 

Theoretical notation of numbers from ten to one 
hundred. 

The fractions involved in numbers from twenty 
to one hundred ; (especially the one hundreth, per- 
centage.) 

The units of measure and their relations in so 
far as they are involved in the numbers from 
twenty to one hundred. 

The process of addition and subtraction, in 
which numbers and fractions, to one hundreds 
and hundredths are involved. 



03 

a 
o 
o 

m 



Eh 



266 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



u ( Multiplication involving fractions and whole 
a; numbers to ones of thousands. 



Division, involving fractions and whole numbers 
to ones of thousands. 



DETAILS OF WORK. 
FIRST YEAR. 



First step. The first step in number work is to deter- 
mine the condition of the child's mind as to number. 

This is to be done by some such tests as the follow- 
ing : — (each pupil being, if practicable, tested apart 
from the others). Say to the pupil, (showing one object) 
Take as many as I have. If the child is able to do so, 
ask. How many have I ? 

If he is able to give the oral term—one, say "Bring me 
one — (naming some object). "Point out other ones in 
the room." "Tell of ones that you can think of out of 
the room, etc. 

If the child is able to answer satisfactorily all these 
tests, apply similar ones to the number two, and so con- 
tinue until the limit of the child's knowledge in number 
is definitely known. 

WORK OF THE FIRST THREE MONTHS. 

The work during a period of about three months in 
so far as number is concerned is incidental. 

The main idea is to train the mind by a consideration 
of form, as sphere, cube, cylinder, prism, square, trian- 
gle, lines, points, etc. 



THE TH ORY OF THE SCHOOL. 267 

In doing this work number is, of necessity, incidentally 
introduced. 

The nature of the combined form and number work 
may be seen from the following : — 

1. With the sphere. 

The teacher may place before the children the sphere, 
and lead them to describe it orally, to mold it, to name 
things resembling it, in the room, in nature, at home, 
and to represent spherical objects on the board, as, a ball, 
an apple, a peach, etc. 

The number work arises incidentally and is of this 
nature : 

How many spheres are on the table ? How many did 
you mold? If you place the sphere you molded 
with the one on the table, how many spheres do you 
have? Two spheres less one sphere are how many 
spheres? Two one spheres are how many spheres? 
In two spheres there are how many one spheres ? How 
many things that are at home can you think of that are 
like a sphere ? 

2. With the triangular prism. 

The prism is shown to the child, he observes it care- 
fully, and by skillful questioning on the part of the 
teacher, the child is led to describe it : which description 
consists in giving its lines, faces, angles, corners, etc. 

The teacher of course gives the child the correct name 
of each, when the child has a clear idea of it. 

In this work the child is using his perceptive faculties, 
and strengthening his powers of observation. 

The child is then ready to make a similar prism of 



268 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

molding clay. In this part of the work he is taught 
carefulness and accuracy, using his fingers to shape and 
smooth the form with which he is working. 

So far the child has been gaining the idea of form. 

Next he is required to point out or name objects in 
the room that are similar to the triangular prism. Also 
to name objects at home, on the street, or elsewhere, of 
similar shape, perhaps describing or telling something 
about some of them. 

Then he is required to draw objects that are similar 
to the prism described. 

In this work he is applying his knowledge of tri- 
angular prisms, and training his eye and hand, as well 
as gaining language. 

The child is now ready to begin number work with 
this object. 

And in a triangular prism there will be enough 
number work for this stage without taking another 
prism. 

The faces, angles, etc., will not be exhausted by this 
time. 

This prism may be placed before him, and such ques- 
tions as the following may be asked: (Each teacher 
must be judge of the kind and number of questions, and 
be governed by the development of the child's mind, 
and the circumstance under which he is working.) 

How many prisms do you see ? 

(Taking it away) Now, how many ? 

One prism less one prism are how many prisms ? 

How many faces do you see? (Changing). 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



269 



How many now ? 

How many faces on the sides of the prism ? 

How many on the ends ? 

How many in all ? 

(Using numbers as wholes, not counting). 

How many corners do you see? 

Now, how many ? 

Point out two corners. 

Point out the two upper corners. 

Point out the two lower corners. 

How many corners in all ? 

(Upper, lower, front, back, right, left, etc., are taught 
with form rather than with number). 

In the child's answers his language must be guarded, 
and every answer must be a full, clear, complete 
sentence. 

3. With the cube. 
' The teacher places before the child the cube, and by 
talking about it in an interesting manner the child is 
led to observe it closely and to describe it as to form, 
through skillful questioning on the part of the teacher. 

The teacher should correct any wrong idea the child 
has of its form, by leading him to observe it more 
closely. 

When he is found to have a clear conception of its 
form, he is given molding clay with which to mold it, 
either from an irregular mass or from the sphere pre- 
viously made. Changing the sphere into the cube will 
give the child an idea of the relation of the sphere and 



270 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

the cube and will more clearly illustrate the difference 
in form. 

The molding should be done with the perfect form in 
view. 

The description, molding and drawing (which might 
be employed) of the cube, are designed to give the child 
a clear conception of the cube. 

The child is now asked to name objects in the room 
resembling the cube, also to name such objects that he 
has seen at home, on the play-ground, etc., thus calling 
into exercise the observation and memory. 

The answers will disclose whether the child has the 
power to apply the idea of the cube to the worlds of 
nature and art. 

Form having been thus dealt with the teacher may 
now present number incidentally. 

Thus, questions similar to the following may be asked : 

What do you see as to the corners? (holding the cube 
before the child.) 

The child may be led to answer, "I see four corners." 
Four corners less one corner (covering one corner) leave 
how many corners? "Three corners." Four corners 
less two corners? In four corners how many two 
coraers ? Four one corners are how many corners, etc. 

In a similar manner the questioning may continue 
until the different processes have been touched upon. 

The work might be taken through all the relations of 
that number, also of the number of angles, edges, etc.; 
then having the pupil place the cube he has formed be- 
side the one being dealt with continue the work enlarg- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 271 

ing upon it. But number should not be presented at 
the length allowed the material, as the aim is to make 
the form prominent and the number incidental. 

4. With the cylinder. 

The teacher places a cylinder on the desk, which the 
children observe closely, and by her questioning, and 
work with the cylinder, they are led to describe it orally. 
The children may then be asked to mold the cylinder. 
This they do, being very careful to shape it with the 
tips of their fingers, so that every movement requires a 
mental act. 

The work thus far is intended to give a clear concep- 
tion of the cylinder. 

It is also necessary that they should know how to 
apply this knowledge, so the teacher asks them to name 
every thing in tlie room that is like the cylinder; then 
objects that are like the cylinder that they have seen at 
home, on the street, etc. 

This is to be followed by drawings on the board of 
cylindrical objects. 

At this stage, number may be brought in, in a manner 
somewhat as follows : 

The teacher points to the cylinder and asks — How 
many faces do you see? (covering one face) How many? 

Tell me about it. The child would answer — 

Three faces less one face, are two faces. 

In three faces how many one faces? How^ many 
three faces ? Three one faces are how many faces ? 

It is to be remembered that these questions are only 



272 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

suggestive; and that the relations of number in connec- 
tion with the various forms are not to be exhausted as 
this would be teaching number not as incidental. 

WORK OF THE LAST SEVEN MONTHS. 

About the fourth month, the number work that has 
theretofore been incidental in connection with form, be- 
comes regular and systematic, based upon the use of 
objects present to the senses, as indicated in the stage of 
perception. 

The ostensible aim is to give clear ideas of the numbers 
from one to ten, but the ideas of these numbers are 
really means, not end, and the true end is the training 
of the mind by activity upon these ideas, and the all- 
important question for the teacher in regard to each 
number is — How can the idea of this number be pre- 
sented so as to give the highest and best training to the 
mind ? 

All the different lines of work, as upon whole num- 
bers, fractions, and units of measure, move forward 
abreast. 

Each number is considered : 

1. As a whole. 

2. As to the relations in it. 

3. In its applications. 

The first work with a number, considering it as a 
whole, is to present its idea and its oral term. The idea 
of a number is obtained when it is known as com- 
posed of the next lower number and one, and as made 
up of so many ones of the same kind. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 273 

Thus, the presentation of the idea and oral term of 
two consists in teaching : 

1. A new combination composed of an already 
known number — one, and one more. 

2. That the oral term for this new combination is 
two. 

3. That two consists of two ones (units) of the same 
kind. 

The idea and oral term of two having been taught, 
there remain various devices by which the mind may 
be trained in considering it as a whole : 

1. Two may be dwelt with as a whole, and the ob- 
servation powers developed : 

(a) By having all the twos in the room pointed out. 

(b) By leading the pupils to observe two taps of 
a pencil, two soxmds of a bell, two notes of a piano, two 
ticks of a clock, etc. 

(c) By placing on the desk a collection of objects, 
and having the children with closed eyes select two. 

2. Two may be studied as a whole, and the memory 
be cultivated by requiring the children to recall twos seen 
on the play-ground, in the street, at home, in other re- 
gions. 

3. Two may be presented as a whole, and the child's 
interest aroused, and his will trained by having him do, 
e. g., move the thumb twice, step twice, toss a ball 
twice, give sound of a letter twice, place two sticks in 
various positions, string beads in twos by color, arrange 
paper triangles in twos by color, string kindergarten 
fundamental forms in twos, illustrate problems involv- 

18 



274 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

ing two by drawings, arrange in twos, shells, pegs, peb- 
bles, leaves, etc. 

4. Two may be taught as a whole, and the mind 
trained by considering the meaning of the words — 
couple, pair, yoke, span, brace, etc.; by calling attention 
to the members of the body, parts of vehicles, build- 
ings, engines, etc., that are arranged in pairs. 

The association of the printed words with these ideas 
is to be presented in the reading work, but the ideas be- 
long to number. Thus do the different lines of study, 
if the work be organized, supplement each other, as 
seen previously in number, form and language. 

To the consideration of two as a whole should suc- 
ceed work with the relations in it. 

By means of objects present to the senses the chil- 
dren should be- led to see and to express orally the fol- 
lowing relations, the order being immaterial : 

One and one are two. 

Two less one is one. 

Two less two is naught. 

Two ones are two. 

One two is two. 

In two there are two ones. 

In two there is one two. 

In the progress of number work there have been sev- 
eral modes of dealing with numbers and their rela- 
tions : 

1. That which dealt merely with the figures and 
symbols of relation. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 275 

2. That wliich dealt with the figures and symbols, 
l)ut used objects to illustrate the figures and symbols. 

3. That in wliich the teacher, having in mind a 
given form of statement (oral), uses the objects, so 
manipulating them, and so questioning as to awaken 
the thought of the statement, and to obtain the state- 
ment that he has predetermined. 

4. A fourth and a preferable mode, which is to place 
the objects before the pupils for the sole purpose of 
awakening their thought, and of enabling them to per- 
ceive the relations of numbers, allowing the expression 
to be determined by what they see, giving no regard as 
to whether the relations as seen in addition, subtrac- 
tion, multiplication, or division, are seen and ex- 
pressed first. 

The relation first seen by the pupil and his own 
spontaneous expression of it, if correct, are to be ac- 
cepted in the beginning without any attempt to force 
upon him any technical and arbitrary arithmetical ex- 
pression. 

Such are to be considered and used later in the stage 
of symbol and rule. 

The above mentioned relations of two having been 
dealt with, those that are involved in the process termed 
partition are to claim attention. 

Thus, (using two cubes, balls, or other objects), sepa- 
rate the two into two parts, lead the children to see that 
the parts are equal, and apply the name always to be 
given to any one of two such -pariB— one-half . The pu- 



276 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

pils are then to see that one-half of two is one, and that 
two halves of two are two. 

One (one apple) is then to be separated into two 
equal parts, and the pupils led to apply the term one- 
half to each part. The class are then to see and state : 

One-half and one-half are one. 

One less one-half is one-half. 

One less two halves is naught. 

Two one halves are one. 

In one there are two halves. 

One-half of one is one-half. 

From the completion of the relations in two the pu- 
pils are to enter upon a study of its applications. 

These may be considered of two kinds : — 

1. Its application in the tables, or as to units of 
measure. 

2. Its application in general. 

Under the first the children would be taught concrete- 
ly in connection with two, all the units of the tables 
that involve two, as : 

Two one cents are two cents. 

Two pints are one quart. 

A sheet folded into two halves is a folio, etc. 

The printed forms of the new words, such as pint, 
quart, cent, folio, etc., would be associated with their 
ideas in the coexistent reading lessons, and the coins, as 
one and two cent pieces, as would the other coins in their 
order, would form the basis of language lessons, the aim 
of which would be to develop the children's power of 
language and observation, and increase their knowl- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 277 

edge of the coins of their country, by conversational 
lessons, and stories concerning their appearance, compo- 
sition, where and how the materials are obtained, their 
coinage, etc. 

Thus, as before mentioned, would the various exer- 
cises of the school, if organized, supplement each other. 

Under the second the pupils would be required to 
solve, and to form and solve miscellaneous problems — 
as: — 

If a boy buys one orange one day, and another the 
next day, how many does he buy ? 

If a man has two apples, and wishes to give them 
away, giving one apple to each boy, to how many boys 
can he give? etc. 

The work, as indicated for the number two, represents 
the nature of the work on the numbers from one to ten. 

The units of the various tables, and their relations as 
involved in the numbers from one to ten, are: — 
1. 

One cent. 
2. 

Two one cents are two cents. 

Two pints are one quart. 

Two reams are one bundle. 

A sheet folded into two leaves is a folio. 
3. 

Three feet are one yard. 

Three feet are one pace. 

Three miles are one league. 

Three one cents are three cents. 



278 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

4. 

Four quarters are one yard. 

Four quarters are one dollar. 

Four inches are one hand. 

Four gills are one pint. 

Four pecks are one bushel. 

Four quarts are one gallon. 

Four weeks are one month. 

Four farthings are one penny. 

A sheet folded into four leaves is a quarto. 

5. 
Five one cents are five cents. 

6. 
Six feet are one fathom. 

7. 
Seven days are one week. 

8. 
Eight quarts are one peck. 
Eight cord feet are one cord. 
A sheet folded into eight leaves is an octavo. 

9. 
Nine square feet are one square yard. 

10. 
Ten mills are one cent. 
Ten cents are one dime. 
Ten dimes are one dollar. 
Ten dollars are one eagle. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 279 



SECOND YEAR. 

The second year's work differs from the first in the 
numbers dealt with ; in being in the Stage of Imagina- 
tion ; and in that it presents the practical notation for 
the numbers considered in the first and second years. 

Notation considers two things : 

The figures. 

The arithmetical sentences. 

The figures are taught just as other words are :— 

1. Present the number and associate it with its fig- 
ure. 

2. Point to the figure and associate it with its num- 
ber. 

3. Pass in the association from numbers to figures. 
There should be careful drill in making the figures on 

board and paper. 

In teaching' the notation for thought in number there 
are three stages : — 

1. To obtain the notation from objects. 

2. To obtain the notation from problems ; as, If a 
boy has three apples and finds tw^o more, how many 
has he then? In this case the pupil is to write,— 
3+2=5. 

3. To obtain the notation from the oral expression of 
number (abstract.) 

For example, the teacher may give (orally) 3 and 4, 
when the pupil is to write, 3+4=7. 

The notation is obtained from objects somewhat as 
follows : — 

The teacher presents three objects, e, g., cubes, and 



280 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL 

after a slight pause one more, and then combines them, 
asking pupils to write on the board, or slate, what they 
saw. The pupils write, 3 and 1 are 4. 

In like manner a number of sentences are written. 
The teacher then explains the use of + for and, and ob- 
tains a number of sentences in which + is used. After 
the pupils thoroughly understand the use of +, the use 
of = for are is explained. 

Sentences in subtraction, multiplication, division and 
partition are presented in the same general way. 

The units of the various tables, and their relations as 
involved in the numbers from ten to twenty, are : — 

12. 
12 inches are 1 foot. 
12 pence are 1 shilling. 
12 ounces are 1 pound. 
12 signs are 1 circle. 
12 things are 1 dozen. 
12 months are 1 year. 
12 dozen are 1 gross. 
12 gross are 1 great gross. 
A sheet folded in 12 leaves is a 12 mo. or a duodecimo. 

16. 
A sheet folded in 16 leaves is a 16 mo. 
16 drams are 1 ounce. 
16 ounces are 1 pound. 
16 cu-bic feet are 1 cord foot. 

18. 
18 inches are 1 cubit. 

20. 
20 shillings are 1 pound. 
20 cwt. are 1 ton. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOI-. 



281 



20 things are 1 score. 
20 quires are 1 ream. 
20 grains are 1 scruple. 



THrRD YEAR. 



Numbers in the third year (20 to 100) are treated in 
the same general manner and spirit as are those of the 
second year, the work still being in the Stage of Imag- 
ination. 

Theoretic numeration and notation, if they have not 
been taught before, are presented as the first work. 

In considering fractions in connection with the whole 
number one hundred the idea of percentage arises, and is 
to be treated. 

The following illustration, and exercises will indicate 
to some extent the nature of the work: 



.2 and .3 ; .4 

.07 ; .27 and .5 
.2of.l; .3 of .7 









1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 














-.1;.4^.2; .9^.7; . 
; .6 ^ .03 ; .1 ^ .01 ; .8 -, 



7 -- .3 ; .7 and 



.0^ 



1 of 1 



.5 of .5. 



282 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

What is 4 per cent, of $40 ? 

8 per cent, of 1200? 

10 per cent, of 90 yards ? 

12 i per cent, of 72 miles ? 

20 per cent, of a cubic yard ? 

5 per cent, of an acre ? 

What per cent, of $35 is 17? 

What per cent, of $28 is $14 ? 

What per cent, of 42 miles is 21 miles? 

$6 is 20 per cent, of what number? 

40 rods is 12^ per cent, of what number ? 

If 4 qts. of grain are given for grinding a bu., what 
per cent, is the cost of grinding? 

1 lb. 4 oz. is 25 per cent, of what ? 

There is nothing in fractions hut the relations of whole 
numbers^ except the terms. 

The units of the various tables and their relations as 
involved in the numbers from twenty to one hundred 
are: 

24 gr. are 1 pwt. 

24 hours are one day. 

24 sheets are one quire. 

24 things are 2 dozen. 

27 cu. ft. are one cu. yd. 

28 days in February. 

29 days in February. 

30 degrees are one sign. 

30 days in April, June, September, and November. 
30i sq. yd. are one sq. rd. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 283 



31 days in January, March, July, August, Octobc3r, 
and December. 

32 gills are one gallon. 
32 quarts are 1 bu. 

32 pounds of oats are 1 bu. 

36 inches are 1 yard. 

36 things are 3 dozen. 

40 perches are 1 rood. 

40 rods are 1 furlong. 

48 things are 4 dozen. 

56 pounds of corn, rye or flax seed are 1 bu. 

60 pounds of wheat or clover seed are 1 bu. 

60 seconds are one minute. 

60 minutes are 1 hour. 

60 minutes are 1 degree. 

60 geographical miles are 1 degree. 

60 things are 5 dozen. 

72 things are 6 dozen. 

84 things are 7 dozen. 

96 things are 8 dozen. 

100 pounds are 1 hundred weight. 

100 years are 1 century. 

The processes of addition and subtraction in this year, 
and also the processes of multiplication, division, and 
partition, in the fourth year, are to be presented and ex- 
plained at first concrete, first with objects present to the 
senses, and then with objects present to the imagination. 

1. Addition. 

This process requires attention to the following points: 

a. The object of the process. 



284 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

h. The impossibility of adding all the numbers at one 
step. 

c. The necessity of the successive steps and of com- 
bining results. 

d. The division for this purpose. 

e. The manner of combining the partial results in 
accordance with the principle of numeration. 

/. The statement of the rule, and its illustration by 
reference to the steps of the operation itself. 

g. Practice, in which each step of each operation is 
to be accounted for by reference to the rule. 

When the rule is familiar, it remains only to grade the 
practice according to the complexity of the operation 
involved. This grading consists of four stages : — 

a. That which involves the expression on the slates 
in symbols of what the pupil has previously done 
orally; as, 8+4+3=15. 

6. That which involves the axiom of operation by 
parts but no change of denomination ; as, 33-f26=r59. 

c. That in which the change of denomination in- 
volves the principle of numeration, and the axiom of 
operation by parts; as, 37+46=83. 

d. Exercises involving ciphers. 
2. Subtraction. 

The same points in regard to explanation and grada- 
tion apply to subtraction. 

The method in subtraction is either that which in- 
volves a change of minuend alone, depending on the 
principle of numeration; or that which involves a 
change in both the form and value of the minuend and 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



285 



subtrahend, depending on the axiom, that the difference 
of two numbers is not changed if both be equally in- 
creased. 

The proofs in addition and subtraction should be 
given, as well as the operations themselves, being equal- 
ly valuable as mental exercises. 

' The proof of addition is based on the principle that 
in adding a series of numbers, the sum should be the 
same, in whatever order the series is added ; and that 
of subtraction on the principle that what is subtracted 
from a number and what remains must equal the 
whole. 

3. Multiplication. 

Multiplication should be explained by addition, and 
its object shown to be to find what the addition of the 
same number to itself a certain number of times will 
produce. 

The table should be constructed objectively and 
should then be made a mental habit by repetition. It 
is valuable practice to extend it to twenty or more. 

The grading of exercises should be as follows : 

a. Exercises in which the multiplier consists of the 
units in succession. 

h. Exercises in which the multiplier consists of the 
tens in succession. 

c. Exercises in which the multiplier consists of both 
units and tens. 

In multiplying by such a number as 27, the 2 
should not be spoken of as twenty nor as two tens, for 
that is contrary to the idea of notation, and only com- 
plicates the operation. 



286 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Let it be spoken of as a 2, and afterward by recalling 
the fact that it is tens, the denomination of the product 
may be shown. Success in dealing with such cases 
depends on success in the work on notation and the 
previous steps in multiplication, for then the pupil will 
be able to perceive in how far the multiplication by 2 
tens agrees with that by 2 units, and in how far it 
differs. The axiom of partial operations is employed 
three times in such cases, and that axiom and the 
principle of numeration explain the entire theory of 
the process. 

4. Division. 

Division should be explained by subtraction, and its 
object shown to be to find how often one number is 
contained in another. 

The principles upon which the process depends are 
that of partial operations and that of numeration. 

Long division should be presented before short divis- 
ion because short division is an elliptical form of long 
division, and therefore naturally grows out of it. 

In commencing with long division, however, small 
divisors, such as 2, 3, 4, etc., should be used. 

The exercises should be graded as follows : 

a. Those where the partial quotients are even with- 
out involving any change of denomination ; as, 
84648-2. 

b. Those in which change of denomination is in- 
volved. 

c. Those which involve ciphers. 

The proofs for multiplication and division should be 
considered for the reasons given under subtraction. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 287 



The proof for multiplication is based on the principle 
that the product is the same in whatever order the 
partial products are obtained, and that for division, on 
the principle that the contained number multiplied by 
the number of times it is contained, will give the con- 
taining number. 



METHOD IN GEOGRAPHY. 



PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS- 

1. What knowledge have children upon entering 
school, that is geographical or related to geography ? 

When the child enters school he is in possession of 
ideas, sometime^ vague and incomplete, sometimes in- 
correct, concerning: — 

The form, size and position of the earth, its daily mo- 
tion, day and night, the seasons and their succession, 
direction, color, form, the rising of smoke. 

Rain, snow, ice and dew ; where they come from ; 
where they go to. 

Heat and cold, and their effects; air, the boiling of 
water. 

Clouds. 

Different plants; their relations to heat, moisture, 
man and animals. 

Different animals ; their uses. 

Different minerals ; their uses. 

Hill, valley, plain, pond, stream, cape, peninsula, etc. 



288 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Different kinds of soil, earth-worms, and coral, and the 
effect. 

Different means of communication, riding on cars, 
vehicles, etc., and the effect. 

Different races of man. 

Different nations of njen. 

Cities; their huildings, streets, governments. 

Different religions. 

Education. 

Different occupations. 

Pictorial representation. 

The difference in earth and water in receiving and 
giving off heat. 

2. Classify the items given in answer to " 1 " un- 
der: — 

a. Mathematical Geography. 

b. Physical Geography. 

c. Political Geography. 

These ideas classified would be as follows : — 
Form, size, position of the earth, its motion; — day 
and night; — the seasons and their succession; — direc- 
tion ; —form ; — streets; — pictorial representation, belong- 
ing to mathematical geography. 

Rain, snow, ice and dew, where they come from; 
where they go to; — heat and cold, and their effects;— 
clouds; — different plants; their relations to heat and 
moisture, man and animals; — different animals, their 
uses ; — different minerals ; their uses ; — hill, valley, pond, 
stream, cape, peninsula, etc.; — different kinds of soil; 
earth w-orms, and corals ; — different races of man ; — 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



289 



difference in earth and water in receiving and giving off 
heat;— color ;— the rising of smoke; pictorial represen- 
tation, belonging to physical geography. 

Different means of communication; — different na- 
tions of men;— cities; their buildings and govern- 
ments ;— different religions ;— education ;— different oc- 
cupations; pictorial representation, belonging to political 
geography. 

3. Through what sources has the child acquired 

these ideas ? 

4. What is the attitude of his mind in regard to 

them ? 

These ideas are acquired through casual testimony, 
observation and ijiference. Illustration. 

The attitude of the child's mind to this accumulated 
knowledge is ^two-fold: First, much of the knowl- 
edge is of the latent known. In the second place, 
much of it has become common-place. ' The curiosity ex- 
cited by novelty has become somewhat satisfied by famil- 
iarity witli the outside of the surrounding phenomena, 
or has been repressed by contact with ignorance, and 
commands to cease unwelcome questions.' The child is 
by birth a naturalist. His love of nature is the capital 
in geography. 

At first his wondering eyes gather material naturally. 
The first work of geography is to flash its light across 
the latent known and turn the child's gaze upon it ; the 
second is to reawaken his interest in the common-place 
known. This is to be done by opening up to the pupil 
in the beginning all that is strange, picturesque, and 



19 



290 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

wonderful in the realm of which his acquired ideas 
form a part. This can never be done by chaining his 
mind down during the first year or more of geography, 
to a study of the objects of the school-room and how 
to represent them, the school-yard, township, county, 
and state, and how to map them. The child must see 
the earth first in its most enchanting guise, and through 
mediums which are perfectly familiar — pictures and 
language — so that the mediums shall be in the back- 
ground. If he is set in the very beginning to the pro- 
duction of a new means of representation — the map — 
the tendency is for it to become all-important in his 
eyes, and thus, in a measure, close them to that which 
it represents. It is a reversal of the maxim—" The 
thing signified before the sign." 

5. Into what knowledge do the ideas possessed by 
the child unfold or develop in the geography work ? 

Under the influence of proper geography work, the 
subject of geography appears to the child as the mere 
expansion or development of those ideas related to the 
subject which he possessed when he entered school. 

The child's idea of the form of the earth, whether 
correct or incorrect, is that out of which grow consider- 
ations of— reasons for his belief and their application to 
the apparent and the real case ; clear ideas of the form, 
comparative and actual (spheroid) ; proofs — Magellan's 
voyage, appearance and disappearance of ships at sea, 
appearance of objects on land to incoming ships, the 
circular horizon, and its increase on ascent, the shadow 
cast on the moon : illustration — movement of toy ships 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 291 



on ^lobe, toy man on the surface represented by sand 
on the curved surface of a molding board, modelling in 
clay of the spheroid, a piece of paper with a round hole 
in it placed on a large globe. 

The inadequate idea of the earth's size unfolds into 
definite ideas concerning — circumference at the equator, 
diameter at the equator, and between the poles, circum- 
ference in time — railroad trip of more than a month at 
the rate of 30 miles an hour, with no stops. 

The vague idea as to the earth's position is to unfold 
into clear ideas in regard to its position by reference to 
pictures of globes floating in the air ; other earths— the 
evening star and the moon — magnet, balls, balloons, 
birds, kites, etc., in the air. 

From tfie idea possessed as to the motion of the earth 
or the apparent motion of the sun, the development is, 
through illustration afforded by riding upon the cars, 
and by comparison of the size of the two, to the rota- 
tion of the earth. 

The knowledge of day and night will lead to the idea 
of rotation, axis, poles, and variation of length of day 
and night. 

Illustration work. — Rotation with axis vertical, hori- 
zontal and oblique, using card-board disc or day circle ; 
the finding of sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight for 
given places; place ball or globe in position for northern 
midsummer, mark with dots the places for sunrise and 
sunset, and then rotate, having the pupils observe 
whether the dots are longer in the light or dark. 
(Read in connection " Agoonack " of "The Seven 



292 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Little Sisters," and " Bidding the Sun Good Night in 
Lapland," by Joy Allison) ; hold a crayon on the far- 
therest point of the surface beyond the North Pole 
that the sunlight reaches, and rotate, keeping the crayon 
in position — have the pupil tell about the day at all 
places within the circle formed by the crayon. In like 
manner, place the ball for the other seasons and show 
results as to day and night. 

The ideas that the child already possesses in regard to 
the seasons and their succession, are to develop into 
clear ideas concerning the revolution of the earth, the 
zones, the orbit, climate and its relation to vegetation. 

These ideas are to be obtained by reference to the pu- 
pil's experience and employment of such devices as 
placing a ball or globe on a table to represent the sun, 
and another in the hands of a pupil to represent the 
earth. The pupil, by holding the ball in its proper posi- 
tion, rotating it and moving with it to represent the revo- 
lution, can show the changes of light and heat, and the 
inferences as to the most obvious effects will follow. 
This may also be shown by a candle and a ball, and, of 
course, by scientific apparatus, if it be possessed. 

In like manner the development of each of the 
familiar ideas could be shown. 

I. PURPOSE. 

The first and most important purpose in teaching 
Geography, is to awaken and to furnish exercise to the 
mental faculties. 

More specifically, the purpose is primarily to develop 
the imagination. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 293 



It should also be the aim to give intellectual and 
moral breadth. (How does geography tend to do this?) 

The secondary purpose is to give a knowledge of the 
earth as an organic whole, and its parts in their re- 
lations ; to give a general knowledge of all the political 
divisions of the earth, and to give a specific knowledge 
of the pupil's own country, and four or five others of the 
leading countries as commercial and industrial units. 

Geography is not to be taught for the sake of the 
geographical knowledge, but for the sake of awakening 
and exercising the mental faculties, and giving tli^fn'in- 
creased vigor by furnishing materials for their exercise, 
and affording opportunities for the directing and train- 
ing of them. 

In this use and not in its facts, lies the great value of 
the subject of Geography; though the facts have their 
value, and should be clearly presented. 

II. THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS OR THE CLEAVAGE. 

The fundamental ideas are : 

1. Place as it is. 

2. The thought that the earth is an organism, 
having life through contrast. 

III. IDEAS GAINED FROM BUSINESS WHICH ASSIST IN PRE- 
SENTING THE SUBJECT. 

1. The relative business importance of various 
countries. 

2. That in the business world geographical regions 
are usually considered apart from the map. 



294 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

3. That in business and in the public press of one's 
own region, foreign countries are considered much 
more largely than the home region. (?) 

IV. THE MORE COMMON DEFECTS IN PRESENTING THE SUBJECT. 

1. It is made too largely a verbal memory study. 

2. Neglect in use of the globe. 

3. Study of facts as isolated to too great an extent. 

4. Tendency toward national conceit and narrow- 
ness through the early and continuous study of one's 
own region, before grounds of comparison are furnished 
by the study of the earth as a whole, and of other coun- 
tries. 

5. Subordinating the map to the text on points of 
which they both treat. 

6. Not guarding sufficiently against the tendency on 
the part of the pupils to make the map and text the 
end. 

7. Teaching the hemispheres from but one stand 
point instead of from three — the eastern and western, 
northern and southern, land and water. 

8. Teaching the continents only as surfaces. 

9. The failure to distinguish between the twenty-five 
or thirty cities of the earth in which the commercial and 
industrial relations are strongest, and which should 
therefore require the preponderance of treatment, and 
those whose importance is arbitrary, political or local, 
and which therefore require less exhaustive study. 

10. Failure to sufficiently utilize the experience of 
the pupils. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 295 

11. Presenting the different stages of the work in an 
unnatural order, e. g., the presentation of political divis- 
ions before natural divisions, winds, currents, etc. 

12. Presenting the symbol before the reality — the 
sign before the thing. 

13. Neglect of map drawing, one of the very best 
means of giving clear conceptions of the various regions 
on the ground that it takes too much time. 

V. OUTLINE OF WORK. 
I. FIRST YEAR. 

The geographical threads of the first year are lessons 
on : 

Place, form, drawing, size, distance, direction, and 
color. 

In the lessons on place, work would be given illustra- 
ting the use of such expressions as, — on, above, before, 
between, under, below, behind, around, etc., right-hand 
corner, left-hand corner, front right-hand corner, back 
left-hand corner, middle of right side, etc. 

In such work the teacher would place objects and the 
pupil imitate; the teacher place and the pupil describe; the 
teacher place and the pupil draw ; the teacher dictate 
and the pupil place; the teacher disarrange and the 
pupil place from memory, etc. 

In the work of color, form, size, etc., the pupils would 
be led to speak of the color, form, size, place on the 
earth, etc., of animals, plants, minerals, etc. 

Thus, of the tiger : its colors would be spoken of and 
represented ; its form and size shown on the board and 



296 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

in pictures and by reference to tigers that the pupils may 
have seen ; then the region that it inhabits would be 
spoken of, its distance and direction from the pupil's own 
region indicated, etc. In a similar way the tiger lily, 
magnolia, lead, gold, etc., would be briefly touched upon, 
in connection with the lessons on place, form, color, 
size, etc. 

II. SECOND YEAR. 

In the second year the geographical threads are les- 
sons on : — 
a. Animals : 

That live on the land ; in the water ; in the a%r. 
That live in hot parts of the earth ; in cold parts ; in 
forests ; in plains ; in deserts ; on mountains, etc. 
h. People : (By stories and readings.) 
Their kind of homes. 
What they wear, eat, and do. 
The animals they use. 

The distance and direction of their homes from 

the pupil's home. 

(See The Seven Little Sisters ; Each and All ; Aunt 

Martha's Corner Cupboard, or Stories about Tea, Coffee, 

Sugar, etc.; Little Lucy's Wonderful Globe ; Little 

People of Asia, etc.) 

III. THIRD YEAR. 

a. Aim. 

(1.) Principal. — To open up to the child the wonder- 
ful and picturesque features of the subject. — To guard 
against the meshes of the map, definition and text. — To 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 297 



give a general conception of the earth as a whole with- 
out the use of a map. 

(2.) Incidental.— Extended ideas of distance, direc- 
tion, means of communication, and of the different 
peoples and their habits. 

h. Nature of the work. 

The work is based upon the idea that every region of 
the earth is composed of some or all of the few geo- 
graphical elements, (about thirteen in number): as, hill^ 
lake, peninsula, etc., each of these having its essential 
marks or elements (as the base, slope and summit of a 
hill), which essential elements may appear in various 
types, e, g., a summit may be flat, rounded, or pointed ; a 
slope, wooded, rocky, grassy, etc. 

The purpose of the year's work is to be accomplished 
by giving cleat, rich and full conceptions of the various 
geographical elements ; so that a geographical term, as 
"penmswk" shall call up in the mind of the child— not 
the conception as derived from a single example, but as 
gained from a number of instances sufficient to present 
the element in its various types. 

In order that the purpose as stated above may be best 
accomplished the various examples necessary to illus- 
trate the different types are selected from as many 
different regions of the earth's surface as possible. 

In the use of the moulding sand and drawings as 
means of making clear the geographical elements, to 
insure that the pupils shall look through the moulding 
sand and the map to the real objects which these repre- 
sent, preliminary work of two kinds is necessary. 



298 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

(1.) Work in which teacher and pupils mould in 
sand, (common moulding sand) and draw in horizontal 
and in vertical outline — (profile) regions with which the 
pupils are familiar; all knowing in each case what 
region is being represented. 

This work may be pursued for several weeks. 

(2.) Work in which the teacher moulds in sand, and 
draws in horizontal and vertical outline regions with 
which the class is familiar; the pupils however not 
knowing before hand what region is to be represented, 
but being required to determine the region through the 
representation. 

Two or three weeks may be consumed in this kind of 
work. 

This preliminary work having been completed, the 
pupil is prepared to enter upon the study of the various 
geographical elements. 

The work with any one geographical element consists 
of three parts : — 

(1.) Study of the example in the home region. 

(2.) Imaginary journeys to examples in foreign 
regions. 

(3.) Study of examples selected in foreign regions. 

On the supposition that the lake is the element to be 
considered, and that its various types are adequately 
represented by the lake or pond in the home region, and 
by Lake George in North America, Lake Titicaca in 
South America, Lake Geneva in Europe, Lake Balkash 
in Asia, Lake Tchad in Africa, and Lake Eyre in Aus- 
tralia, the work would be of the following nature : 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 299 



(a.) If practicable, the pupils should observe the 
lake or pond in the home region, noting its essential 
characteristics and their types ; and should mould it in 
sand, while it is before them. 

(b.) Mould from memory. 

(c.) Describe orally. 

(d.) Describe in writing. . 

(e.) Draw in horizontal and vertical outline. 

The foregoing work on the example in the home 
region having been completed, the pupil is prepared to 
enter upon the second kind of work— the imaginary 
journey. 

In the imaginary journey the pupil should notice 
carefully the distance, direction, means of communi- 
cation, the general character of the intervening surface, 
the habits and industries of the people, etc. 

When the pupil has been brought, by means of the 
imaginary journey, to the first example of the element in 
foreign regions which has been selected, (in this case Lake 
George) the teacher should make his conception of the 
element as vivid as possible by pictures and descriptions. 

When this has been accomplished the pupil should be 
required, 

(a.) To mould the example. 

(b.) To describe it both orally and in writing. 

(c.) To draw it in horizontal and vertical outline. 

When the work has been completed to this point, the 
pupil is to return to the home region either by the same 
or a different route. 



BOO THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

He is next to make an imaginary journey to the next 
example of the element in foreign regions — (Lake Titi- 
caca)— noticing the same things during the journey and 
studying the example in the same way. Returning to 
the home region, as before, either by the same or by a 
different route, he proceeds to study in the same manner 
all the examples selected as necessary to give a full and 
vivid conception of this geographical element. 

Such work as that indicated in relation to the lake, 
should be pursued with each of the remaining geo- 
graphical elements ; the treatment of examples in for- 
eign regions being obviously less exhaustive than that of 
the example in the home region. 

Supposing the hill to be the element selected to begin 
with, the general order of presentation would be as fol- 
lows : 

1. The Hill. 

a. Work is indicated with the lake. 

b. The hill region. 

c. The expansion of the hill into the mountain. 

2. The Mountain. 

a. Work as indicated with the lake. 

b. Combination. 

(1.) Into the range. 

(2.) Ranges into the system. 

3. The Valley. 

a. Work same as indicated for the lake. 

b. Extension of valley into the plain. 

4. The Plain. 

a. Work same as with the lake. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 301 

b. Elevation of the plain into table-land or 
plateau. 

5. The Table-land, or Plateau. 

a. Work same as with lake. 

6. The Spring. 

a. Work as indicated for the lake. 

b. Extension of the spring into the streamlet. 

7. The Streamlet. 

a. Same as with the lake. 

b. Expansion of streamlet into river. 

8. The River. 

a. Same as with lake. 

b. Formation of river-system. 

c. Expansion of river into the ocean. 

9. The Lake. 

a. Work indicated before. 

b. Expansion of lake into ocean. 

10. The Cape. 

a. Same as indicated for the lake. 

b. Extension of cape into peninsula. 

11. The Peninsula. 

a. Same as with lake. 

b. Showing isthmus from the part of the pen- 
insula which connects it with the main body of the 
land. 

12. The Isthmus. 

a. Same as with lake. 

13. The Island. 

a. Work as indicated for lake. 

b. Island group. 



302 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

14. Gulf or Bay. 

a. Same as with lake. 

b. Extension of the gulf into the inland sea. 

15. The Inland Sea. 

a. Same as with lake. 

b. The connection of the inland sea with gulf 
or bay, forming the strait. 

16. The Strait. 

a. Same as indicated for lake. 

In connection with the foregoing, the pupils may re- 
ceive elementary ideas of climate, productions, inhabi- 
tants of various regions, means of communication, 
cities ; but this work should be incidental, and limited 
to those regions which have been selected to give full 
conceptions of the various geographical elements. The 
following outline will suggest the nature of the work: — 

1. Climate. 

a. The Spring Day.. 

(1.) Comparative length of day and night. 

(2.) Variations of heat and moisture, or 
the combinations of the elements of clfmate. 

(3.) The effects of their combination as 
found in the spring day upon productions and inhabit- 
ants. 

b. The Summer Day. 

(1.) and (2.) Same as for Spring Day. 

(3.) The effect of the combination as 
found in the summer day upon the productions and 
inhabitants. 



season. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 303 



(4.) Merged into the tropical day and 



c. The Autumn Day. 

(1,) and (2.) Same as for Spring Day. 

(3.) The effects of the combination as 
found in the autumn day upon inhabitants and pro- 
ductions. 

d. The Winter Day. 

(1.) and (2.) Same as in Spring Day. 

(3.) The effects of the combination as 
found in the winter day upon productions and inhabit- 
ants. 

(4.) Merged into the frigid day and sea- 
son. 

2. Productions. 

a. Minerals. 

(1.) In home region. 
(a) Kinds. 
(b.) Appearance. 
(c.) How obtained. 
(d.) Use. 
(2.) In other regions. 

(a.), (b ), (c) and (d) same as in home 
region. 

(e.) Comparison as to kind and use. 
(f.) Generalization. 

b. Vegetation. 

(1.) Of home region, 
(a.) Appearance. 
(b.) Use. 



304 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



(c.) Adaptation of soil and climate 
to vegetation. 

(2.) Of other regions. 

(a. ) and (b.) Same as in home region. 
(c.) Inference as to soil and climate, 
c. Animals. 

(1.) Of home region. 
(a.) Wild, 
(b.) Domestic. 

(1') Foreign. 
(2') Native. 
(c.) Appearance. 
(d.) Habits. 
(e.) Uses. 

(f.) Adaptation of climate and re- 
gion to ha])its and uses. 

(2.) Of other regions. 

(a.), (b.), (c), (d.) and (e.) same as 
under home region. 

(f.) Inference as to region and cli- 
mate. 

3. Inhabitants. 

a. Of home region. 

(1.) Races. 

(2.) Influence of climate and region up- 
on mode of life, as to : — 

(a.) Occupations. 

(b.) Habitations. 

(c.) Food. 

(d.) Clothing. 

b. Of other regions. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 305 



(1.) and (2.) with (a.), (b.), (c), (d.), same 
as under home region. 

4. Means of communication, 
a. Of home region. 
(1.) By land. 

(a.) Natural.— Those possessing the 
motive power within themselves and using as passage- 
ways : — 

(1') Roads. 
(2') Bridges, 
(b.) Artificial.— Those not possess- 
ing the motive power within themselves, and using pass- 
age-ways, 

(1.') On the surface. 
(2.') Above the surface. 
(3.') Beneath the surface, 
(c.) Objects communicated. 
(1') Material. 

(2.') Immaterial, or thought. 
(2.) By water. 

(a.) Natural. — Those using as mo- 
tive power the currents of the stream and passing mi the 
water. 

(b.) Artificial.— Those employing as 
motive power forces other than the current and passing, 
(1.') On the water. 
(2/) Under the water, 
(c.) Objects communicated. 
(1.') Material. 
(2.') Immaterial, or Thought. 

20 



306 THE THEORY OE THE SCHOOL. 

b. Of other regions. 

Same as under home region. 
5. Cities. 

a. The Village. 

(1.) Work as indicated for the lake un- 
der geographical elements. 

(2.) Expansion of the village into the city. 

b. The City. 

Comparison of the various types of cities met with 
in the study of the geographical elements. 

Although this year's work does not deal with locality, 
yet the pupil will necessarily become somewhat familiar 
with the general position of countries, together with 
their names and those of their remarkable features. 

Thus, in listening to a description of rivers, as the 
Amazon or the Hudson, interest fixes their names in 
memory so that they are familiar when, in the course of 
their later work, their position is learned. 

Likewise, in studying animals or vegetation, the pupi^ 
associates the countries with these: Africa, with the lion; 
China, with tea, etc. 

If in the general lessons of the school, the following 
three lines of work, among others, are pursued, as sup- 
plementary to the second year's work, they will furnish 
valuable assistance in rendering more vivid the pupil's 
conception of the regions described in the geography 
work : — 

1. One upon the lion, elephant, camel, tiger, wolf, 
bear, hyena, kangaroo, buffalo, reindeer, dog, serpent, 
whale, shark, eagle, ostrich, vulture, etc. 



TITE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 30' 



2. Another upon the palm, olive, breadfruit, vine^ 
cotton-i)lant, tea-plant, coffee-tree, sugar-cane, rice, maize, 
cinnamon, cedar, mahogany, etc. 

8. A third upon articles of food, clothing and build- 
ings. 

In the course of these lessons the principal countries 
would evidently be noticed so often that the pupils 
would, of necessity, accumulate a considerable fund of 
ideas concerning each. 

During the work of this year, the only illustrations to 
be used other than those previously mentioned, are 
pictures of the objects dealt with in the general les- 
sons, and pictures of scenes typical of countries. 

In accord with this thought the teacher would pre- 
sent pictorial representations somewhat as follows : — 

Arabia by ' a desert scene, exhibiting the general 
features of the desert and sky, the caravan as a whole, 
the camel, and the Arab himself, in his usual costume. 

Egypt, by its river, pyramids, and inhabitant, engaged 
in his usual avocation. Etc. 

Only a limited supply of such illustrations is furnished 
by the text-books. 

The teacher should, therefore, make collections of 
pictorial illustrations of natural features; animal, vege- 
table and mineral productions; buildings; manufac- 
tories and processes of manufacturing ; representative 
men of different nationalities ; cities ; bird's eye views, 
etc. 

These should be divided on the basis of continent, 



308 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



and then subdivided on the basis of country, region, 
etc., and kept separate. 

Harper's Magazine and Weekly, and the Century Magazine 
are among the richest sources of such illustrations. 

Number 1370 of the Weekly contains views of "The Funeral 
of a Little Waif," in Paris ; "The Fish Hatching at Cold Spring, 
Long Island;" "Prince Gortchakoff ;" "Mount ^Etna, Sicily ;" 
"Interior of a Southern Cotton Press by Night," and "Sketches 
in Cairo." 

Number 1390 of the Weekly contains views of "Coney Is- 
land," and the "Louisville Exposition." 

1391, views of scenery at "Grand Rapids," of "Oyster and 
Clam Fisheries" of "Sands Point, Long Island," and views from 
''Sandy Hook." 

The Monthly for June, 1877, contains "Scenes in the Vicinity 
of the Androscoggin Lakes," (17.) "The Wheeler Survey in 
Nevada," (10.) "Gibraltar," (3.) "Representations of Birds' 
Nests," (3). 

Scribner's Monthly (now the Century) for November, 1876, 
contains views of Hartford, Conn., (38.) Pictures from Rome, 
(14.) Furniture, (19,) 

These numbers, selected at random, indicate the value of 
such illustrations when divided and subdivided in such a 
manner as to be available for systematic use in studying the 
various geographical regions. 

(See for collateral reading — parts of Near Home and Far Off; 
Scribner's Geographical Reader; Our World, No 1, by Hall ; 
Seven Little Sisters; Each and All.) 

FOUKTH year's WORK. 

1. Aim : — 

To train the mind by giving a clear structural concep- 
tion of the earth by means of representation : i. e., globe, 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 309 

map of the earth as a whole, maps of parts of the earth, 
mouldings, drawings, etc., 
2. Steps :— 

a. Consideration of the form. 

The work under this point should be somewhat of the 
following nature : 

(1.) Obtain the pupil's opinions in re- 
gard to the shape of the earth and the reasons for such 
opinions. 

(2.) Discuss the question whether a body 
having the characteristics which he presents as reasons 
for his opinion, could be flat; also if it could be round. 
(3.) Obtain if possible, if not, give 
familiar proofs of the earth's form, such as the follow- 
ing :— 

(a.) The earth always casts a circu- 
lar shadow. 

(b.) Objects which are out of sight 
to one standing on the surface may be seen from an ele- 
vation. 

(c.) Of an approaching ship, the 
masts may be seen before the hull, etc. 

b. Presentation of lines of latitude and longi- 
tude. 

The steps to be taken in dealing with this subject are : 
(1.) To explain the terms literally. 
(2.) To show the necessity for the lines. 
(3.) To teach the pupils how to construct 
the lines. 

A good piece of apparatus to use in presenting these 
ideas, is a small black ball. If a dot be placed upon the 



310 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



ball with chalk and the pupils be asked to locate it, it 
will soon become evident that sufficient data for its 
exact location are wanting. 

If dots are now placed upon the ball in proper posi- 
tions to represent the poles, and circles are drawn 
through these and numbered, the pupils will see that 
these aid to a great extent in locating the dot, but that 
something is still wanting to make the location definite. 

If, in a plane at right angles to the plane of the circles 
already drawn, a circle be drawn, midway between 
the two points selected to represent the poles, and circles 
parallel to this be drawn between it and the poles, and 
numbered, it can be shown that the means for locating 
the dot are now complete. 

The streets of a city also form a good means of illus- 
tration of lines of latitude and longitude. 

c. Explanation of the globe as a representation 
of the, earth as a whole. 

d. Explanation by means of the globe, of the 
map of the earth as a whole. 

e. Air. 

(1.) Position. 
(2.) Composition. 
In treating of the composition of air, it is to be made 
to appear that of the four elements — Oxygen, Nitrogen, 
Carbonic acid gas, and vapor, the most important in re- 
lation to the subject of geography, is the vapor, and 
that Carbonic acid gas is second in importance. 
(3.) Manner of heating. 

(a.) By direct rays of the sun. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 311 

(b.) By reflected rays of the sun. 
(4.) Influence of heat upon air, causes it 
to expand and to rise. Illustrations. 

(5.) Influence of cold upon air, causes it 
to contract and thereby lessens its capacity to hold 
moisture. Illustrations. 

f The hemispheres. 
The work upon hemispheres at this stage is of a 
general nature ; the design being to lay the foundation 
for an intelligent study of the winds and currents as 
growing out of the contrasts presented by the various 
land and water masses. 

The work will include a consideration of the eastern 
and western, the northern and southern, and the land 
and water hemispheres ; the last of the three obviously 
requiring the most careful treatment, 
g. Relation of earth to sun. 
(1.) Day and night. 
(2 ) Seasons. 
(3.) Zones, 
h. Winds. — Causes :— 

(1.) Land and water heated unequally. 
(2.) Difl'erent belts of land heated un- 



equally. 



(3.) General direction. 
Oceanic movements. 

(1.) How produced. 

(2.) Their effects. 
Vapor in the air. 

(1.) How it gets in. 



312 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 

(2.) How it gets out. 

(a.) In liquid form. 
(1.') 'Fog. 
(2.') Dew. 
(3.') Rain. 
What becomes of it when it falls upon the earth ? — It 
sinks into the earth. 

What change is produced upon it by the earth ? 
What change does it produce upon the materials in 
the earth ? 

Why does it reappear ? 

In what ways does it reappear? — Surface springs; 
deep seated springs. 

It is carried off in the form of streams. 
Their origin. 
Their work. 
It evaporates. 

(b.) In congealed form. 
(!.') Snow. 
(2.') Hail. 
(3.') Sleet. 
k. The crumbling of the earth's surface. 
(1.) Causes. 

(a.) Carbonic acid. 

(b.) Oxygen. 

(c.) Frost. 

(d.) Extremes of heat and cold. 

(e.) Extremes of moisture and dry- 



ness. 



(2.) What this decay becomes. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 313 

(3.) How it is distributed. 
1. Glaciers. 

(1.) Their formation. 
(2.) Their work, 
m. Volcanoes and hot springs. 

In this work statements, as such, committed to mem- 
ory ; the "pouring in" process, and the learning of facts 
for the sake of mere knowledge, is, as elsewhere, to be 
avoided. Every thing that can be, is to be made pal- 
pably evident by illustration, analogy, observation and 
experiment. For example, in treating of the different 
degrees of heat in the atmosphere due to the direct and 
reflected rays of the sun, refer to the stove, the wall, and 
the heating of the intervening space. 

In teaching that heated air rises and that this rising 
causes lateral' currents, call attention to what may be 
observed at a register, a fire place or over a slab of heat- 
ed iron. 

The expansion of heated air may be observed in the 
popping of corn, baking of apples, etc. 

The difference in the rapidity with which earth and 
water receive and give off heat, may be shown by ob- 
serving buckets filled with each, and exposed to the sun, 
at noon, and again sometime after sunset. 

The aim is to be to awaken an intelligent appreciation 
of what is already known in part by rote, or daily seen 
by eyes that see not, or daily done but not understood, 
and to connect it by its innumerable links with the un- 
known. The materials presented are to be used as an 
exercise ground for thought. To a degree it is dealing 



314 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

with the hitent known and the answers are, in part, 
theoretically in the pupils' minds already, and the ob- 
ject is to awaken thought; to cause them to sift and re- 
arrange their ideas ; to implant new desires and new 
capacities for satisfying desires, to give, not so much 
knowledge, as power to learn and to observe. 

Unless this habit of intelligent observation is implant- 
ed, the horizon will be close about the pupil and he will 
be as Schopenhauer says of one without a knowledge of 
Latin, "as a man walking in beautiful region in a fog." 

The pupils are to consider the questions carefully, 
which is a great point gained. 

They are to debate the questions thoughtfully which 
is a greater point gained. 

They are to answer the questions with thought which 
is the greatest gain. 

Pupils who are merely instructed and who are assist- 
ed unduly at almost every step cannot answer questions 
with thought. But even if they were unable to answer 
the questions, to acquire the power to consider and de- 
bate questions with thought is to attain the end sought 
for. The points are, however, so intertwined with their 
daily experience, and with the common things around 
them, that all may comprehend them. 

It is true that the power to question on these com- 
mon phenomena requires that the questioner shall be a 
skilled workman, and that he shall view himself as the 
director, the suggestor, the stimulator, and the child as 
a being educating himself by self effort; but such a 
supposition is allowable. 



THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL. 3l5 



Among the many questions to be considered, the following 
will, no doubt, present themselves: — 

Where does rain come from ? 

How does rain get into the clouds ? 

Why does rain fall? 

Why does water collect in a river channel ? 

Where does a river make its bed ? 

Why does the water in a river channel flow in one direction 
more than another? 

What discolors a river in a rainy season ? 

Where did the mud come from ? 

What becomes of the mud and water in a river? 

In what way are the sand and gravel disposed of when they 
reach the sea ? 

Why does one river form a delta and another an estuary? 

What is the air? Its parts? 

When water is placed in a kettle and then heated until the 
kettle is dry, what has become of the water? 

Where do plants get their solid parts? 

Where does the sand in maple sugar or syrup come from? 

Where does the silica in grain come from? 

When plants and animals decay what do they give back into 
the air? 

In breathing what do animals give to the air ? 

How do we become sensible of the air? 

How is the air heated? 

Why is air ever cold? 

Why is the air warm during a snow storm ? 

Why are slanting rays weaker than direct rays? 

Why are cloudy days sometimes warm ? 

What causes the motion of the air? 

How does vapor get into the air? 

How does vapor get out of the air? 

Where does the water that collects upon the outside of a 
pitcher come from ? 



316 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



Can vapor be seen? 

When can air hold the least vapor ? 

What is dew ? 

What is mist, or fog ? 

What is a cloud ? 

What is the difference between rain, snow, hail and sleet ? 

What are the shapes of snow ? 

When rain falls upon the ground in how many ways does it 
disappear ? 

What becomes of the part that sinks into the ground ? 

Why does it not sink to the center of the earth ? 

What would be the result if the water which sinks into the 
earth were to remain there? 

How does the water get out of the ground ? 

How does it happen that there is room for water in the 
ground ? 

What makes it rise to the surface ? 

What does the water take from the air as it falls as rain ? 

What happens to the water that sinks into the ground ? 

What does the water in the ground do to the rocks. 

What makes buildings, rocks, fences, etc., look old. 

What advantage is it to have rocks decay ? 

All the surface of the land is traveling in what direction ? 

Why does water flow down ? 

Why do rivers wind ? 

Is it better to have them wind ? 

Of what advantage are brooks and rivers ? 

What becomes of snow and ice in warm regions ? 

What becomes of that upon cold mountain-tops ? 

Does a glacier help to make soil ? How ? 

Why is the sea salt ? 

Is the sea getting more or less salt ? Why ? 

n. The structure of the continents. 



(1.) Instruments. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 317 



(a.) The regular text. 
(6.) Other texts. 
(c.) Cyclopedias. 

(d.) Special works on physical geog- 
raphy, as Geike, Somerville, etc. 

(e.) Construction lines. 
(/.) Moulding. 
(g.) Drawing. 

(10 Vertical. 
(2') Horizontal. 
(2.) The Structure. 
In the study of the structure the pupils must form a 
a picture of the continent as a solid; as divided by an 
axis into two slopes, one long and gradual and the other 
short and steep ; as having on these slopes secondary axes; 
as consisting of moimtain land, plateaus and plains; of 
the mountains as consisting of systems, ranges and peaks; 
of the continent as arranged into river basins; of the 
river basins as parallel to, and as at right angles to the 
continental axes. 

(3.) Order of Study of Continents. 
In the study of structure the order may be given, 
as— South America, North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, 
and Australia. 

(See Guyot's Physical Geography, and Earth and Man; 
Maury's Physical Geography; Recluse's Earth; Huxley's 
Physiography; Kingley's Town Geology; Forms of Water, 
by Tyndall ; Vegetable Mold aud Earth-Worms, by Darwin.) 

FIFTH year's work. 

1. Aim. — To clothe the structure studied in the pre- 
vious year ; i. e., to train, and develop the mind by a 
consideration of the vegetation, minerals, animals, peo- 



318 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 



die, trade cities, (those determined by natural condi- 
tions ; the natural depots of trade, commerce and 
manufacture; as, New York, London, San Francisco, 
Pittsburg, etc.), religions and governments of the earth. 
2. Outline of Work, 
a. Vegetation. 

(1.) Means of original investigation, 
(a.) The pupil's own knowledge. 
(b.) Regular text-book, 
(c.) Other text-books. 
(d.) Cyclopedias, 
(e.) Special works. 
(f.) Charts, pictures, books on travel. 
(2.) Means of review. 

(a.) Lead the pupils to place on the 
board names of all important vegetable products. 

(b.) Lead the children to classify 
them, as — food plants; building materials; art materials; 
material for medicine, etc. Thus : — 
Food Plants. 
Staple. 

Placed upon board. 
Luxuries. 

Placed upon board. 
Building and Shelter. 
Clothing. 

Placed upon board. 
Dwellings. 

Placed upon board. 
Arts and Manufactures. 
Coloring. 

Placed upon board. 
Cabinet work. 

Placed upon board. 
Medicines. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



319 



Names of plants used for medicines written upon 
board. 

(c.) Obtain and place upon board 
the names of the parts of the plants used as food, build- 
ing material, art and manufacturing material, medicines, 
etc., e.g., leaves, bark, sap, seed, stalk, trunk, root, etc. 

(d.) On the basis of the part used, 
re-classify the vegetable productions, as, all plants the 
leaves of which are used, etc. 

(e.) Classify vegetable productions 
according to regions, first, by lines ; second, by coloring 
on map of the earth as a whole, or on maps of the con- 
tinents. 

The representation by lines would appear somewhat 
as follows : 



Arc. 



Pine Forests. 
Deciduous Trees, Fruit Trees and Wheat. 
P^vergreens and Olives, Oranges, Vines and Maize. 
Pine-apple, Indigo, Date-palm, Cotton, Sugar, Tobacco. 



Trop. 



Trop' 




Bread-fruit, Caoutchoue. Oil-palm, Banana, Cacao. 

Vanilla, Yams, Nutmeg, Sago Palm, Bamboo. 
Paraguay Tea, Baobat, Sugar, Cotton, Tree-ferns. 

Evergreens, Vine, Maize, Gum-trees. 
Araucarias, Beeches, Tall Grass. 




Stunted Trees. 

Small Ferns and Mosses. 

Snow and Ice. 




Can. 



Cap. 



S| P 



320 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



Trop, 



Rye, Barley, Potatoes. 

Wheat, Oats, Potatoes. 

Maize, Sweet Potatoes, Sugar. 

Sugar, Coffee, Tea, Maize, Rice. 



Trop 




N I P 



Berries and Roots. 



C. 



\Can. 



Rice, Manioc, Yams, Bananas, Brea d-fru it. 



Sweet Potatoes, Rice, Sugar. 



Maize, Wheat, Oats, etc. 
(introduced) 



Ant. 




(f.) Consider the vegetation by zones, 
as follows: — 

The Arctic Zone is the zone of mosses and stunted 
trees. The })lants are mosses, licliens, sedges, ferns and 
birches. 

The Temperate Zone is divided into three plant belts: 

In its colder portion are found cone-hearing trees, princi- 
pally pine, fir, and spruce. Cranberries, raspberries and 
small strawberries also occur. The food plants of this 
region are oats, barley, rye, potatoes and turnips. 

In the moderate portion^ leaf shedding or deciduous trees 
abound; such as oaks, elms, beeches, walnuts, and 
chestnuts. The food plants are wheat, corn, . barley, 
onions, carrots, cabbage, etc. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 321 

In the 2varmer portion the trees are Evergreens, such as 
myrtles, laurels, mulberry, olive, etc. The food plants 
are the fig, orange, lemon, the vine, tea, rice, etc. 

Cotton also belongs to this zone. 

The Tropical Zone is the zone of palms and bananas. 
Tree-ferns also abound. The food-plants are the date- 
palm, sago-palm and cocoa-palm, and the bread-fruit. 

(g.) Consider vegetation by conti- 
nents as follows : — 

North America is the continent of flowering trees, 
the most striking being the tulip tree and the magnolia. 

South America has palms, bananas, tree-ferns and 
fig-trees. 

Asia is the home of fruit trees. The peach, apricot, 
fig, olive, date, mulberry and spice trees grow here. 

Vines, melons, cucumbers, gums, balsams, resins and 
the tea-plant are also among the products of this conti- 
nent. 

Europe has the same plants as Asia in the same lati- 
tudes. 

Africa has in the north, palms; in the south, very 
large heaths. 

Australia is the home of myrtles, acacias and gum- 
trees. 

b. Minerals. 

(1.) Means of original investigation, same 
as under Vegetation. 

(2.) Means of review. 

(a.) and (b.), same as (a.) and (b.) 
under Means of Review for Vegetation. 

21 



322 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 



(c.) Represent prominent mineral 
regions by coloring on the map of the earth as a whole, 
or on maps of the continents, 
c. Animals. 

(1.) Means of original investigation, same 
as under Vegetation. 

(2.) Means of review. 

(a.), (b.) and (c). Work similar to 
(a.), (b.) and (c.) under Means of Review for Vegetation, 
(d.) Classify animals according to 
zone regions, as follows : — 

NIP 



Moose, Deer, White Bear, Seal. 



Trop. 



Trop. 




Wolf, Fox, Grizzly Bear, Chamois, Eagle 
Yak, Bison, Turkey, Beaver, Puma, Bear, 
Camel, Ostrich, Flamingo, Buffalo, Zebra. 



I Can. 



Lion, Giraffe, Elephant, Tiger, Boa. 
Gorilla, Hippopotamus Rhinoceros. 

Condor, Llama, Tapir, Iguana, Llama. 

Kangaroo, Opossum, Duck-bill, Parrot 

White Bear, Seal 



— — IE 




S|P 



d. People. 

(1. ) Means of original investigation, same 
as under Vegetation. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 323 



(2.) Means of review. 

(a.) Same as (d.) under Animals. 
(b.) Same as (c.) under Minerals. 

e. Natural or Trade Cities. 

(1.) Means of original investigation, same 
as under Vegetation. 

(2.) Means of review. 

(a.) Represent on the map of the 
earth as a whole, on maps of continents, or countries, (as 
the various cities may require) in the same color, each 
city considered and the regions with which it is most 
closely associated in business, together with the routes 
used between them. 

f. Religion. 

(1.) Means of original investigation. 

(a.) Same as under Vegetation, in so 
far as it will apply. 

(b.) By diagram, thus : 

Confucianism, 1 

Braminism, 

Buddhism, 

Zendavesta, 

Judaism, 

Islam, 

Egyptian, 

Greek, 

Roman, 

Scadinavian. 



Christian — Catholic. 




acteristics of each. 



(1') Determine the main char- 



(2') Decide upon the charac- 
teristic, or characteristics, common to each and the 
Christian Religion. 



324 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



map. 



(2. ) Means of Review — Coloring upon the 

^^. Government. 

(1.) Means of original investigation, 
(a.) Same as (a.) under Religion, 
(b.) By diagram, thus : 

Patriarch ism, 1 

Theocracy, I 

OHgarchy, I 

^ir V f Absolute, !► Democratic Republic. 

Monarchy, I Limited, 

Aristocracy, I 

Democracy. J 

( r ) D eterm i n e th e m ai n ch ar- 
acteristics of each. 

(2') Decide upon the charac- 
teristic, or characteristics, that are common to each and 
the democratic republic. 

(2.) Means of review. Coloring upon map. 
h. Education.— As usually presented in geogra- 
phies. 

BOOKS FOR TEACHERS. 

Ocean Wonders, by Damon ; The Little Merchants, by Miss 
Edgeworth ; Modern Egyptians, by Lane ; Lands of the Sara- 
cen, Bayard Taylor; Heart of Africa, by Schweinfurth ; Liv- 
ingston's South Africa ; Stanley's Across the Dark Continent, 
and Congo; Journey in Brazil, by Agassiz ; Arctic Explorations, 
by Kane ; The Pampas and Andes, by Bishop ; Overland 
Through Asia, by Knox ; Northern Travel, by Taylor. 

The Childhood of Religions. 

The Childhood of the Earth. (Lovel Library.) 

Humboldt's Cosmos. (Bohn Library.) 

Ritter's Life. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 325 



Le Conte's Geology. (Read First Part.) 
Geological Story Briefly Told. 

Last chapter of Conservation of Energies — International 
Scientific Series. 
Guthrie's First Book of Knowledge. 
Oriental Religions. Caird. 
Age of Fable. Bulfinch. 

BOOKS FOR PUPILS. 

Up the Amazon. 
Zig Zag Journeys. 
Children's Fairy Geography. 

Z ioTs in S. } Lee & Shephard : Boston. 

SIXTH year's work. 

The work of the sixth year consists of two phases : — 

Political geography, extending over a period of about 
five months. 

Industrial geography occupying about the same length 
of time. 

1. Political Geography. 

Political geography is not really geography, but his- 
tory. It has generally been treated as if it were almost 
the ' all in all ' of the subject. The first five months of 
the sixth year should be devoted to this branch^ of the 
subject, in order to give a general and cursory view of 
the political divisions. To secure that the inter-relation 
of geography and history should render the greatest 
mutual assistance, the order of study should, probably, 
be as follows: — 

a. The countries of Asia. 

b. The countries of Africa. 



326 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

c. The countries of Europe. 

d. The countries of North America. 

e. The countries of South America. 

f. The divisions of Australia. 

The scope of study may be included under three 

heads : 

Absolute. 



1. Position. . p^j^^j^^^ 



4 

2, Aspect. 

3. The inhabitants; in particular, their industrial 
character. 

ASPECT. 

The first object in describing thte aspect of a political 
division, is to distinguish its great natural divisions, 
i. e., to give its general plan. These are of four princi- 
pal kinds: — Mountain region, slope, river-basin, plain 
or plateau. 

These should be described as they would actually ap- 
pear to the eye. The teacher must take one natural di- 
vision at a time, and give a bird's-eye view of it ; this 
implies that the river shall be noticed in connec- 
tion with the mountain from which and the plain 
through which it flows, and that the surface shall 
be described as generally hilly or flat, pastoral or agri- 
cultural, fertile or barren. 

A country may have mountain ranges and large riv- 
ers; it is not on the possession of these simply, that its 
aspect depends, but on the manner in which they are 
connected. If the mountains, plains, rivers, etc., be 
separated, and each kind studied by itself, the idea of 
natural division is lost sight of. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 327 

Towns or cities should be considered under three 
heads:— river towns, sea-coast towns and inland towns. 

These should be studied under position, site, size, ap- 
pearance, historical and industrial facts. 

CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 

In geography, national character should be stated as 
fact, and traced to its causes only in those cases where 
the connection is obvious. 

Examples : — 

Mountain. — Freedom and independence. 

Plain. — Steadiness and dullness. 

Rigors of the North. — Stunted growth of body and 
mind. Etc. 

The great and important aspect of national character 
which is properly embraced in the study of geography 
is the industrial, as being directly influenced by the 
productions of the soil. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTRUCTION. 

Under characteristics of instruction are included de- 
scription according to the order and unity of nature^ 
questioning apart from the map, study in the light of 
the idea of contrast, use of newspaper, map-construc- 
tion, coloring, use of text, historical geography and in- 
cidental geography. 

MAP CONSTRUCTION. 

For presenting position and aspect, there is no other 
mode so effectual as is map construction. The map of 
the continent should be first constructed as a basis for 
the map of the political divisions. The map to be con- 



328 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

structed should not be completed in a single effort. It 
should be constructed in the presence of and by the aid 
of the pupils. It should grow with their advancing 
knowledge of the country, and should represent no 
more at any time, than they know of it; otherwise, the 
exercise becomes purely a mechanical act of copying, 
and fails of its object. One division at a time should be 
filled in with mountain, river and town ; then another 
and another, till the whole country appears in the rep- 
resentation ; the progress of the map being kept in 
strict accordance with the progress of instruction. 

Finally, the pupils should present, on paper, care- 
fully prepared maps of the most important countries. 

USE OF TEXT. 

The text is to be used for certain kinds of facts ; but 
as a rule, the text should be used to confirm and sup- 
plement the conclusions drawn from the other means. 
So far from being looked upon as aids to books, books 
should be considered as explanatory of these means. 

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

From the close relation that exists between geography 
and history, in geography there should be constant 
reference to the historical associations of places, limited 
by this principle : — Historical facts are to be considered in 
the study of geography when the facts are so suited to the 
mental development of the pupils, that they can be easily led 
to perceive their significance. 

INCIDENTAL GEOGRAPHY. 

In many of the lessons in school, other than the geo- 
graphy lesson, there are allusions to places. These allu- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 329 

sions should be illustrated by oral statement, and then 
by actual reference to the map. There are two reasons 
for this : — 

It is necessary for the full comprehension of the 
lesson being studied. 

It teaches the pupil to use his geographical know- 
ledge for casual purposes, just as he will afterwards have 
to use it in his business life. 

(See Earth as Modified by Human Action,— Marsh ; Buckle's 
History of Civilization in England ; Draper's Intellectual De- 
velopment of Europe ; Books of Travel,— G. Putnam and Son; 
Round About Rio; Strange DweUings; Travels in Mexico ; Our 
Boys in India, and Our Boys in China.) 

2. Industrial Geography. 

In this division, the United States are considered in 
their business aspect. This involves — 

a. That the country as a business whole, should 
be considered in relation to the countries with which it 
has important commercial relations. 

b. That each of its important commercial cities 
should be studied in connection with the places with 
which it is closely related in business, instead of each 
of these being considered separately, and the pupil al- 
lowed to learn their relation incidentally. 

c. That each of its most important manufactur- 
ing cities should be presented in connection with the 
mineral and other districts upon which its importance 
depends. 

^ The specific lines of investigation are : — 

1. The manner and degree to which the people of 
the United States sustain themselves. 



330 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

2. The maimer and degree to which they contribute 
to the sustenance of others. 

3. How they come to make the particular contri- 
butions which they do. 

4. The manner and degree to which the other 
nations considered, contribute to the sustenance of the 
people of the United States. 

5. How they come to make the contributions which 
they do. 

The preliminary steps are : — 

1. To construct a blackboard map of the earth as a 
whole. 

2. To place on that map, the United States and its 
dependencies in a given color. 

3. To represent in another color, its chief business 
cities in their business relations. 

4. To represent in like manner on the same map 
the countries that are most largely engaged in trade 
with the United States. 

The steps in presenting the work, are : 

1. The study of the United States, under : — 

a. Actual position. 

b. Relative position. 

(1.) In relation to the other countries re- 



presented. 



(2.) In relation to the direct rays of the 



sun. 



(3.) In relation to the prevailiniJ: winds. 
(4.) In relation to ocean currents. 

c. Actual and relative size. 

d. Aspect. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



331 





1. Mountam regions 1 ^^^^^^^ ^^^,^_ 

2. Sopes. Uion of these 
(3. Plams^ 1 to business. 
(4.) River basins. J 


e. 


Natural productions. 
(1.) Mineral. 

(a.) Location of principal mineral 


regions. 


(b.) Amount and value of mineral 


productioi 
f. 


1. 

(2.) Vegetable. 

(a.) and (b.) as in (1 .) 
(3.) Animal. 

(a.) and (b.) as in (1.) 
Manufactured productions. 

(1.) Location of principal manufactories. 

(2.) Reasons for such location. 

(3.) Amount and value of manufactured 


productions. 

g. Means of communication. 



h. 



(1.) Shipping. 

(a.) Principal lines. 

(b.) Number of miles. 

(c.) Distinctive features of the trade. 
(2.) Railroads. 

(a.), (b.), (c), as in (L) 
(3.) Telegraph. 

(a.) and (b.) as in (1.) 
(4.) Telephone. 

(a.), (b.), (c), as in (1.) 
Inhabitants. 



332 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

(1.) Number. 
(2.) Races. 

(3.) Number engaged in each of the prin- 
cipal occupations. 

(4.) National character and causes thereof. 
(5.) Their form of government. 

2. Less exhaustive study of the dependencies of the 
United States under the same points. 

3. Less exhaustive study of the other countries rep- 
resented, and their dependencies, under the same points. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTRUCTION. 

The instruction in this division should be character- 
ized by :— 

1. Thorough description in the order of nature. 

2. Questioning apart from the map. 

3. Adherence to the principle of contrast. 

4. Full and regular use of newspapers. 

One way of employing the newspaper to advantage is 
to take some paper like the N. Y. Tribune, Herald, 
Times, etc., which advertises the departure and arrival 
of shipping, and have the pupils trace the course of the 
vessel, explaining why such course is taken. 

(See newspapers and periodicals ; Tribune Almanac, and 
others of like character ; Reports of Heads of the Departments 
of the Government; Manual of Commerce, by S. W. Browne; 
Natural Resources of the U. S., by Patton ; A Hand-Book to 
the Industries of the British Isles and the U. S., by Bevan ; 
Commercial Products of the Sea, by Simmonds; The Geo- 
graphy of the Oceans, (containing tables of commerce) by J. F. 
Williams ; The Statesman's Year Book, Statistical and Histor- 
ical Annual of the States of the Civilized World, Macmillan & 
Co.) 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 333 



METHOD IN U. S. HISTORY. 



Practical Teacher.— '''lo begin the study of U. S. History, mold a 
map of Charlestown and Boston, showing Bunker Hill, Breed's Hill, ships in 
the harbor ; throw up a redoubt on Breed's Hill. Mark the line of the stone 
and rail fence. Draw a map showing Boston. Charlestown. Dorchester 
Heights, Cambridge, the British quarters, the American encampment. Make 
the scene as real as possible. Who are these men in the redoubt? How arc 
they dressed? Tell me about their equipments? What kind of guns have 
they ? How are these guns fired ? Did you ever .«ee such a gun ? Describe 
the soldiers' ammunition. How^ do they carry bullets? How were the bul- 
lets made? How do they carry powder? How do they load their guns? 
Where did these men come from ? Draw a map of the places in which they 
live. In what kind of houses do they live ? Where do they work? Draw- 
one of their houses. Describe the inside of the house. What do they learn ? 
Of what religion are they ? How did they get here ? Why did they 
COME? Have they good reasons for coming? What are they? Who are 
those soldiers landing on the shore ? How are they dressed ? How do they 
march ? Who leads them ? Where do they live ? Why are they here ? 
Who sent them? Why? Who are leading the farmers? Who is Prescott? 
Putnam? Warren? Stark? See the Americans as they hold their guns 
steadily over the breastworks until the British come within eight rods. Is 
it not a terrible thing to kill men? Are the Americans right in firing? 
What if they had run? What excellent reasons have they for running? 
What gave them courage? Tell all about the battle. Who commanded the 
Americans? Who won? Why do the Americans celebrate the day as if it 
were a victory? 

The questions suggest the line of study. Have pupils find the answers 
by reading, questioning their parents and friends, and by pictures or relics. 

Take time, let the investigation cover weeks if you can keep up the in- 
terest. First lead your pupils to live upon the scene. 

Objector—-' But we haven't the time to spend on Bunker Hill. What of 
the examination^? " 

Practical Teacher.— '' The examination? Remain on Bunker Hill so long 
that from the height your pupils can see with clear vision the past and that 
which led to that glorious morning— and what those brave acts did for man- 
kind—and let the examination take care of itself. It will." 

— F. W. Parker's Practical Teacher. 



The child's mind is trained in the study of U. S. 
History, by the consideration of three individuals. — 
The single individual. (Biography.) 



334 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

The domestic individual. (The study of homes.) 
The national individual. (History proper.) 

1. The first is studied incidentally, in connection 
with devotional, general, reading and other lessons; and 
also in the consideration of the third individual — the 
nation ; as, in connection with the Revolution, Wash- 
ington ; with the Mexican War, Scott and Taylor ; with 
the administrations, Adams, Jefferson, etc.; with the 
Rebellion, Grant, Thomas, etc. 

2. The study of homes, as preparatory to U. S. History, 
appears in several phases. 

a. In the Fourth year, after having completed the 
structure of North America, in geography, the study of 
the Aborigines in their homes, is entered upon. The 
premises of a typical home or village would, with 
moulding sand and building material, be represented by 
the pupils. They would make the construction of the 
miniature houses as real as possible. The people would 
then be studied in their homes, as to what their work 
is ; what they wear, and how they obtain it; what they 
eat, and how they obtain it ; tlieir furniture ; their 
weapons; their education; how they are governed; 
their strongest beliefs. The pupils are to study about 
them from various sources, and to live with them in im- 
agination, until they obtain something of an insight in- 
to their genius and spirit, as a community. 

b. In the Fifth year the pupils are to study the 
Spanish and the French, of all grades, in their homes. 

c. The work of the Sixth year, is to endeavor to 
lead the pupils to comprehend the spirit and influence 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 335 

of typical Dutch and English homes of different grades, 
d. The first five months of the Seventh year are to 
be devoted to the study of the colonists from these four 
nations, in their new homes. 

The pupil is to study the homes as indicated in the 
different years, in order to come into a comprehension 
of the spirit of their lives. "All true history centers 
around homes. There are the secret springs of action. 
Who were the ''Embattled fanners f What did they eat? 
What did they wear? What did they study? What 
did they believe? How came they in those homes? 
Who were their ancestors ? Describe a New England 
home. Compare it with an Englisli." The homes of 
the Spanish, French, Dutch, English and Colonists, 
having been made real to the pupils, they are prepared 
to commence, about the middle of tlie seventh year, the 
study of the national individual, with genuine and en- 
during interest. 

(See Letters from Spain— Bryant ; Outre Mer— Longfellow ; 
Old Streets and Houses of England— Scribner, Sept., 1877 ; The 
Saxons in England— Kemble ; Notes on England— Taine ; Old 
English History— Freeman ; Our Old Home— Hawthorne ; 
Stories of Old Dominion— Cook ; The Siege of Boston— Froth- 
ingham ; A Short History of the English People— Green ; 
Child's History of England— Dickens ; Pioneers in the settle- 
ment of America— Crafts ; The Home of Columbus— Harper, 
Dec, 1876; The Knickerbockers of New York Two Centuries 
Ago— Harper, Dec , 1876; "The Good Old Times" in Plymouth 
—Harper, Jan., 1877; The Romance of The Hudson— Harper, 
April, May and June, 1876; Old Philadelphia— Harper, May, 
1876 ; Spanish Sketches— Scribner, Dec , 1875 ; History of 
France— Mrs. Markham.) 



336 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

3. The study of the nation should be considered in 
two phases : 

a. The study of the growth and life of the 
country, beginning at the middle of the seventh year, 
and extending to the High school. 

b. The study of the form of government, occu- 
pying about the first year in the High school. 

THE GROWTH AND LIFE OF THE NATION. 
THE PHILOSOPHICAL ELEMENT EXCLUDED. 

History involves probable or contingent reasoning. 
" The student and interpreter of history reasons con- 
cerning events of the past, when he seeks to explain 
them, or to forecast the future by the principles through 
which the facts and results of important social move- 
ments can be interpreted." The intelligent teacher is 
never satisfied with mere facts ; he is desirous of rising 
to tliose generalizations which are recognized as the 
highest product of historical judgment. These attract 
from their grandeur, their comprehensiveness, and the 
order they seem to introduce into the multitude of 
mere facts. But in proportion as they are attractive 
and satisfying in all history, as Hegel has admirably 
shown, they are to be guarded against by the teacher of 
U. S. History in the common schools. It is not there 
that there is to be a delving into the philosophy of his- 
tory. Because this is the highest aspect of history it 
does not therefore follow that it is the field for pupils 
who have only the age, culture and time of those in the 
common schools. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 337 

To attribute motives to men involves probable reason- 
ing, thereby testing severely the judgment. This is true 
in estimating men of the present, and much more so it 
is true in estimating the actors of the past, whose ex- 
perience is not shared. Therefore the necessity of the 
principle stated later, that the events of the past epoch 
should be studied in the work of a writer of the past 
epoch. 

In the exact sciences it is said that the profoundest 
judgments may be brought to the test of facts and as- 
certained to be either right or wrong. No such test can 
be applied to the probable reasoning involved in his- 
tory. From these considerations it would seem that the 
philosophy of U. S. History is not a desideratum in the 
common schools. The requisite mental qualities are as 
yet undeveloped in the pupil, and the effort to make the 
work philosophical will necessarily fail to lead them to 
form their own judgments, but will impart the judg- 
ments of others, which, on account of their compre- 
hensiveness, they cannot receive. 

The instruction, therefore, so far from being highly 
intellectual, will partake largely of those mechanical 
features which philosophical teaching is an attempt to 
avoid. It is eminently fitting that the teacher should 
penetrate the subject to its deeper aspect. If he has in- 
vestigated that phase, he will have a wonderful advan- 
tage in the selection and arrangement of historical 
events according to their true and essential relations, 
but that should be the extent to which he deals with 
the philosophy of the subject in his school work. But 

' 22 



338 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

this does not mean that the bare facts are to be presen- 
ted merely in the most obvious of their time, place and 
casual relations. The method of presentation should 
exercise to the full extent that maturity of judgment 
which the pupil does possess. 

THE DOUBLE NATURE OF THE METHOD. 

Instruction in U. S, History should be in accord with a 
double method which should be pursued in conformity 
to the principles or laws that obtain in the develop- 
ment of the memory, imagination, judgment and will. 
The double method consists of two essential steps. 
According to one phase, in the first place, the religious, 
political and soci!l aspects of the Present should be 
definitely set forth, including outward manifestations 
and principles ; and in the second place the religious, 
political and social principles of the first epoch in U. S. 
History should be presented as a set of principles ani- 
mating the people of that epoch ] and the events of that 
epoch should be viewed as manifestations of those prin- 
ciples. Thus, epoch by epoch, the pupils are to trace 
those principles, in their collisions, changes, and trans- 
fusions, considering events in the light of them, until 
they are merged into the principles of the present. 

In accordance with the other phase, there should be 
presented in the beginning, the events or manifestations 
of any one nature as seen in the present in the U. S. 
and the spirit or principle which they embody should 
be determined, e. g., the explorations or expeditions of 
discovery of this age, as those of De Long, Stanley, etc., 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 339 

should be discussed, and then the principle or spirit 
animating them made clear ; — and as a second step, the 
principles or spirit of discovery preceding the first epoch 
of U. S. History should be set forth. These principles 
should be traced in a continuous course with all their 
accompanying manifestations until they are merged in- 
to the present age. 

The events or manifestations of another nature ; e. g., 
settlements, in the U. S. in the present and their under- 
lying principles or spirit should be taught, with their 
accompanying results. This topic should be pursued 
in all its phases down to the present. 
' Thus, one by one, the principles of the present age 
of our nation, as the religious principle ; free trade and 
protection ; state rights and centralization, etc., should 
be considered': 

1. In their present aspect. 

2. In their origin in our history. 

3. In their course and manifestations from the be- 
ginning to the present. 

The first phase of this double method is the appro- 
priate one in the original invedigation of our history ; the 
second in its review. 

A PRINCIPLE. 

Literally the word ''principle" from ^^ primus,''^ first 
and " capere " to take, indicates that which is taken 
first. It signifies generally, a first truth. President 
Porter says that a principle " may be generally defined 
as anything with which the mind begins in nn act of 
rational or logical combination." 



340 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

He further says — " Those general truths which are 
the starting points of the reasonings or communications 
of any special science or art, are called with eminent pro- 
priety, principles ; because in teaching, the teacher be- 
gins with these as facts, or reasons from them as prem- 
ises." It is obvious, therefore, why the purpose and 
definitions of a subject are ranked as important principles 
in methods of presenting it. 

THE KINDS OF PRINCIPLES INVOLVED. 

The principles considered manifestly arrange them- 
selves into three classes : 

1. Those that pertain to history in general. 

2. Those that ]>ertain to the history of America as a 
distinctive political community. 

3. Those that pertain to the mind as fitted to ac- 
quire. 

THE ENUMERATION OF THE PRINCIPLES. 

1. Those that pertain to history in general : 

a. A nation, being sovereign, has, per consequence, a 
moral purpose. 

b. History may be viewed as the biography of com- 
monwealths ; it is therefore subjective and objective, i. e., 
it deals with principles in their development and with 
outward events. 

c. It concerns itself with deeds as the manifestation 
of the development of rational free-will in a people. 

d. Being the investigation of development, it is 
composed of epochs. 

e. The epochs of the development of a nation should 
be determined by those events that are peculiar to it. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 341 

f. The spirit and action in any epoch should be 
studied in the work of a writing of that epoch, as well 
as in the work of a writer of the present epoch. 

g. The wars of a nation, are in general, its subor- 
dinate events. 

h. The purpose of history is two-fold : (1) To so 
discipline the judgment that it shall be able to apply 
the lessons of the past to the present. (2) To cause 
the pupils to love and honor all that is noble in their 
country's progress. 

2. Those that pertain to the American people as a 
distinctive political community. — 

Singly : 

a. Government by the people, for the people, and of 
the people. 

b. The supremacy of the civil over the military 
power. 

c. Equal laws for the common good. 
In opposing pairs: — 

a. (1.) The absolute authority of the community in 
religious affairs. 

(2.) The absolute authority of conscience in religious 
affairs. 

b. (1.) The union of church and state with church 
supreme. 

(2.) The separation of church and state. 

c. (1.) Suffrage and office based on church member- 
ship. 

(2.) Suffrage and office based on citizenship. 

d. (1.) The supremacy of the colony or state in a 
final appeal. 



342 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

(2.) The supremacy of the central government in a 
final appeal. 

e. (1.) The central government is endowed with only 
those powers expressly delegated to it in the Constitu- 
tion, all others being reserved to the states, — the Strict 
Constructionist view. 

(2.) The central government is endowed with all 
powers of acting for the general welfare that are not de- 
nied to it in the Constitution — the Liberal construc- 
tionist view. 

The triumph of this principle is seen in the acknowl- 
edgment by all parties that the national government is 
endowed with the power of making internal improve- 
ments, of abolishing slavery, of coercing a rebellious 
state, of conferring civil rights upon the freedmen ; of 
laying protective duties ; and of organizing a national 
system. 

f. (1.) Freedom of speech and of the press. 

(2.) Authority of the government in regard to these. 

g. (1.) Right to peaceably assemble and petition for 
redress of grievances and right to carry arms. 

(2.) Authority of the government in regard to these. 

It is obvious that these indicate the principles that 
have obtained not in any single stage of our national 
progress, but in its successive epochs. 

3. Those that pertain to the mind in acquisition ; 

a. In a series of events the mind requires a gene- 
ral plan. 

b. All education is based upon actual experience. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 343 

c. The child is most interested in that which 
appeals to his experience. 

d. Interest is the basis of attention ; attention 
of memory, and memory of permanenc}^ of acquisition. 

e. The memory may act through judgment. 

f. The exercise of the judgment begins early, 
and continues throughout life. 

g. The natural procedure is from the known to the 
related unknown 

h. The imagination creates no new material; it cre- 
ates ideals. 

i. The mind has certain innate principles of asso- 
ciation, in accordance with which it acquires. 

GENERAL NATURE OF HISTORY. 

Considered^ literally, biography means a writing con- 
cerning life. It is currently understood to be an ac- 
count of the life of aA individual. Its field is neces- 
sarily, therefore, two-fold — the outward manifestations 
of the life of the individual, and the spiritual nature of 
which these forms are the expression. In a common- 
wealth, the individuals are animated by a common 
purpose, the accomplishment of which is the object of 
their common life. It is with this thought in view that 
the learned Dr. Arnold defines history as the biography 
of a commonwealth. 

Out of this definition is evolved a fundamental 
principle of the subject, — viz., History is dual in its 
nature, dealing on the one hand with the central prin- 
ciples which make one the lives of the individuals of a 



344 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

commonwealth, and on the other hand with their out- 
ward expressions which mark the successive stages 
of the people in their progress toward the accomplish- 
ment of their common destiny. 

This principle involves a second. — The history of a 
nation is composed of epochs, each of which has its 
distinctive principle. 

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. 

To attempt to teach the facts of history without 
selection, would be futile. Therefore method must needs 
concern itself with the facts or materials to be pre- 
sented. In this phase of U. S. History there should be 
reform. Writers of our school histories should emulate 
the example of John W. Green, the author of the His- 
tory of the English People — not of English wars, and 
then the teacher could give prominence to those events 
of our national life that are truly deserving of promi- 
nence. 

It would be manifestly ill-judgment in presenting the 
biography of a single individual to set forth, as most 
prominent, physical or spiritual contentions and en- 
counters, should his life afford such, except in so far as 
these should be illustrative of the guiding principles of 
his life. His biography in the main, should treat of 
him in the " even tenor " of his way. 

U. S. History has, hitherto, largely caused by the 
character of the text, been too much a record of wars ; 
and a requisite of methods in our history is to assign 
these wars their true position and character ; instead of 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 345 

measuring our prosperity or greatness so largely by the 
warlike achievements of our nation, those should be 
regarded and taught as being often, a dreadful diver- 
gence from the true course, both on moral and social 
grounds. American pupils should be taught that there 
is one kind of war only, as exemplified three times in 
their country's career — The War of the Revolution, the 
War of 1812, and War of the RebelUon — that can be 
dwelt upon with complacency, and that is a war for 
liberty and independence. " In the spirit and princi- 
ple of these three wars, the pupils should be deeply 
indoctrinated," for the great design of the study is^ as 
has been said, to cause them to love and honor all 
that is noble in their country's progress. But wars 
undertaken on insufficient grounds — as the Mexican 
and most of the Indian wars — are not to be palliated, 
much less to be boasted in, however favorably they 
may have displayed our military prowess. In the 
treatment of all wars the principle that the essentials 
are, not the movements and battles, but four other 
aspects ; viz.: (1) Political principles ; (2) social prin- 
ciples ; (3) financial means and results; and (4) the 
laws of warfare, should be adhered to. 

The arts of peace, as so clearly set forth in the article 
entitled "The First Century of the Republic," which 
have been almost overlooked, should be raised to the 
prominence hitherto assigned to those of war; e. g., 
the progress of our nation " in political and personal 
liberty, the development of its social condition as indi- 
cated by its growing skill in manufacture, agriculture 



346 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

and commerce, and in the comforts dependent on its 
dwellings, food and clothing, mutual intercourse and 
amusements, and its advancement in intellectual, moral 
and religious cultivation, as depending on the diffusion 
of literature, and the establishment of schools. These 
are not only more instructive and civilizing than those of 
military history, but may be made equally interesting." 

REASONS AND PRINCIPLES OF ARRANGEMENTS. 

An innate principle of the mind in regard to a series 
of events seems to be that a general plan, comprehensive 
of the events, is requisite for two things : — 

1. The retention of the events. 

2. The just impression of their relations. 

A given series of historical events may present noth- 
ing that is untrue ; and yet, failing to present the events 
in their due relations, and treating them as if all were 
of equal importance, may leave an impression that is 
distorted and false. 

The desideratum, therefore, is that selection and ar- 
rangement, which will present events in the degree of 
their importance, and in their essential relations. 

There are two principles of arrangement. One is 
arbitrary, being founded on the accidental. This is 
manifested in both Geography and History, when nat- 
ural features or events are arranged, not in their organic 
relations, but according to their individual resemblances. 
Thus, in Geography, rivers may be arranged and pre- 
sented by themselves; then mountains, and so on; and 
in history the events may be arranged and presented 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 347 



under the aspect of arbitrary periods of time, or succes- 
sions of peace and war. But as the one can give no 
adequate idea of the aspect of the territory, so the other 
can give no adequate idea of the life of a nation. 

The second principle affords the rational arrange- 
ment, being the essential and pervading principle of an 
epoch. This necessarily sets forth the events in their 
natural relations and full significance, as influenced by, 
and as influencing one another. 



ARRANGEMENT INTO EPOCHS. 



It is requisite here, in consequence, to indicate the 
successive epochs in which the life of our nation ap- 
pears. 

It is not uncommon to arrange U. S. History into 
periods somewhat as follows: 

The Period of Discovery— extending from 1492 to the 
settlement of Jamestown in 1607. 

The Period of Settlement — extending from 1607 to 
the ascension of William and Mary in 1689. 

The Period of Intercolonial Wars — extending from 
1689 to the Peace of Paris in 1763. 

The Period of the Revolution— extending from 1763 
to the inauguration of Washington in 1789. 

The Period of National Development — extending 
from 1789 to the inauguration of Lincoln in 1861. 

The Period of the Rebellion — extending from 1861 to 
the present. 

It would seem that the epochs in a nation's life 
should be determined from those events which are 



348 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

peculiar to it alone, and which stand out as the great 
landmarks of its internal development. 

It is evident that, in the main, the periods referred to 
are established otherwise. 

Considering the discoveries as forming no epoch in 
our history, and as merely introductory, without pre- 
tending to absolute accuracy or comprehensiveness, the 
epochs of our history and the principles characterizing 
them, may be set forth in accordance with the above 
principle. 

THE EPOCH OP ABSOLUTE RELIGIOUS ASCENDENCY. 

The compact of the May Flower in 1620 announced 
the birth of constitutional liberty. This was the dawn 
of that light which now sends forth its full beams from 
institutions based on " equal laws" for " the common 
good." This was the beginning of the primal epoch in 
our history — the epoch of absolute religious ascendency. 
Twenty-three years later, the epoch had its close in an 
event indicating no small progress in political science. 
The Union of the New England Colonies, " Protection 
against the Dutch, French and Indians and the liberties 
of the gospel in purity and peace " were its objects. To 
this significant event may be traced four notable things 
— two provisions of the present Constitution, a principle 
which was later the occasion of a long and bitter strug- 
gle, — viz., ultimate colonial supremacy — and the glorious 
hope of a new and better union ; for it was provided in 
the plan of union that fugitive servants and criminals 
should be delivered up ; that judgments of courts of 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 349 



law and probates of wills in each colony should have 
full faith and credit in all others, and that to each 
colony should be reserved its respective local jurisdic- 
tion — so old is the question of State Rights. 

The principles of this momentous epoch were — the 
supremacy of the colony in local affairs ; the absolute 
authority of the community in religious affairs ; a 
union of church and state with church supreme, and 
equal laws for the common good. 

THE EPOCH OF THE DECLINE OF ABSOLUTE RELIGIOUS ASCENDENCY. 

In the union of 1643, only church members were the 
free-men or electors, showing that the religious element 
was still in the ascendency, as at the beginning; but 
the nation was then about entering on a new epoch — 
The Decline of' Absolute Religious Ascendency. The 
close of this long epoch is fittingly marked in 1754 by 
the memorable Albany Plan of Union, and its rejection; 
in which plan was the first official suggestion of what 
grew, afterward, to be our present Constitution. This 
union was significant in that it was a plan of ^permanent 
union. Brancroft says — (see vol. iv., p. 128): "The 
constitution was a compromise between the prerogative 
and popular power. The king was to name and support 
a governor-general, who should have a negative on all 
laws; the people of the colonies, through the legis- 
latures, were to elect triennially a grand council, which 
alone could originate bills. Each colony was to send a 
number of members in proportion to its contributions, 
yet not less than two or more than seven. The governor- 



350 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

s^eneral was to nominate military officers, subject to 
the advice of the council, which in turn, was to nomin- 
ate all civil officers No money was to be issued but by 
their joint order. Each colony was to retain its do- 
mestic constitution, the federal government was to regu- 
late all relations of peace and war with the Indians, 
affairs of trade, and purchases of lands not within the 
bounds of particular colonies; to establish, organize and 
temporarily to govern new settlements, to raise soldiers, 
and equip vessels of force on the seas, rivers or lakes ; to 
make laws, and to levy just and equal taxes. The grand 
council were to meet once a year, to choose their own 
speaker, and neither to be dissolved or prorogued, nor 
continue sitting longer than six weeks at any one time, 
but by their own consent." 

There can be no stronger evidence of both religious 
and political advance since the close of the previous 
epoch, than the purely political nature of the constitu- 
tion, and the fact that it was rejected by the colonies as 
giving too much power to the king. 

The principles of State Rights and equal laws for the 
common good were still prevalent, while supremacy of 
the community in religion and the union of church 
and state, with church supreme, had given place to the 
principles of the supremacy of conscience, and separ- 
ation of church and state. 

EPOCH OF JUDICIAL STRUGGLE, 

The nation was now entering upon an epoch of fierce 
contention for the purity of its judiciary, the central princi- 
ple being that tenure of office in the judgeship should 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 351 

be based upon good behavior. This was in 1765 
merged into the ever-memorable epoch of agitation for 
legislative power in financial affairs. The condition of the 
public mind at this time was shown with peculiar force 
by that wonderful union of the colonies in Congress in 
October, 1765, which determined to ground American 
liberties on natural justice, abstract truth and imiversal 
reason. It was resolved that, " We should stand upon 
the broad common ground of those natural rights that 
we all feel and know as men and as descendents of 
Englishmen. We should wish such charters as may 
not ensnare us at the last, by drawing different colonies 
to act differently in this great cause. Whenever this is 
the case, all will be over with the whole. There ought 
to be no New England man, no New Yorker known on* 
the continent, but all of us Americans." These views 
prevailed ; and in the proceedings of the Congress the 
argument for American liberty from royal grants was 
avoided. This was the first great step toward inde- 
pendence. During this epoch, the principles of the 
previous epoch — the supremacy of the colony in local 
affairs ; equal laws for the common good ; supremacy of 
conscience ; and separation of church and state— were 
manifest, though they were thrust into the background 
by that of the appointment of judges during good be- 
havior. 

EPOCH OF LEGISLATIVE AGITATION. 

America was now entering upon its great epoch of 
agitation for legislative power, which, so rapid was the 
development, assumed in the brief period between 



352 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

1765 and 1776, the three distinct phases of "no taxa- 
tion without representation," " no legislation without 
representation," " no legislation." It needed but the 
single step — no political connection — and America's 
great and glorious struggle would be complete. This 
great step was consummated on the ever memorable 
second of July, 1776, when twelve of the thirteen col- 
onies, " without one dissenting voice," resolved : " That 
these United ('olonies are, and of right ought to be, free 
and independent states ; that thev are absolved from all 
allegiance to the British crown, and that all political 
connection between them and the state of Great Britain 
is and ought to be, totally dissolved." At the end of 
this great day the mind of John Adams heaved like the 
ocean after a storm. '' The greatest question," he wrote, 
" was decided, which ever was debated in America; and 
a greater, perhaps never was nor never will be decided 
among men. When I look back to 1761, and run 
through the series of political events, the chain of 
causes and effects, I am surprised at the suddenness as 
well as the greatness ol this revolution. Britain has 
been filled with folly and America with wisdom. It is 
the will of Heaven that the two countries should be 
sundered forever. ****** 'Pl^g second day 
of July, 1776, will be tiie most memorable epoch in the 
history of America, to be celebrated by succeeding gen- 
erations as the great anniversary festival, commemor- 
ated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devo- 
tion to God Almighty from one end of the continent to 
the other from this time forward forevermore." 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 358 

In this epoch the same great principles that per- 
tained to the preceding one were cherished, but the 
overshadowing one was that of independence. 

EPOCH OP CONSTRUCTION. 

Independence having been declared, America had 
thrust upon her the critical epoch of construction, ex- 
tending from 1776 to the formation of the present Con- 
stitution in 1787. This was pre-eminently an epoch of 
compromise. Its principles were the same glorious 
and fundamental ones of the epoch which ended with 
the Declaration of Independence. But two that had, 
since 1643, been contending principles — State Rights 
and Centralization — stood out in this epoch in still 
more stubborn antagonism ; and two others — Slave La- 
bor and Free Labor — entered the lists in that irrepressi- 
ble conflict. ' 

EPOCH OF TRIAL. 

With the formation of the Constitution began the 
great tentative or test epoch of the Union. It was the 
most extraordinary in its results. It marked the rise of 
parties and party spirit. The principles of the people, 
as a whole, were as before — equal laws for the common 
good ; separation of church and state ; the absolute 
authority of conscience. Freedom of speech and of 
the press also became the definitely expressed princi- 
ples of all parties in this epoch. But these did not 
furnish the contending principles, the solution of whose 
conflict marks the close of this epoch. There were ar- 
rayed upon the one side these ideas— the absolute sove- 
reignty of the state in an ultimate appeal ; the strict 

23 



354 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

construction of the Constitution ; the relegation of the 
status of slavery to the state and to the territory. Upon 
the other side were the opposing ideas of the limited 
authority of the state ; the sovereignty of the central 
government in the limits of the Constitution ; the liberal 
construction of the Constitution, authorizing internal 
improvements by the general government, a general 
tariff and kindred means ; state authority over slavery 
in the states, but national authority over it in the ter- 
ritories. This last appeared later as national authority 
over the subject of slavery, and finally as no slavery. 

This crucial epocli ended in 1865, in the estabhsh- 
ment of the principles of free labor, limited state 
authority and a liberal construction of the Constitu- 
tion. So ended the conflict that began with the Union 
of the New England Colonies in 1643. Such are the 
principles of to-day, to which are added, of course, 
those which were stated as principles common to all 
parties in the previous epoch. 

METHOD OF PRESENTING HISTORICAL MATERIALS. 

Those principles that mark and characterize each 
epoch, form its inner life. In each epoch they form the 
true ground for the interpretation of the outer life. In 
the light of principles only, can the pupil be led to a 
clear understanding of the events, laws, charters, con- 
ventions and petitions of the early epoch ; and the 
great questions of territorial organization, tariff, national 
bank, internal improvements and others of the later 
epochs. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 355 

The true method in History will seize upon these 
principles that give character to the different epochs 
and hold them aloft to give light and life to all outward 
events. 

There is, indeed, no other way in which the history of 
our nation can be intelligently studied, than that one in 
which " the minds of the pupils are led to act in ac- 
cordance with those principles of association which are 
the constitution of the mind. These principles are 
those necessary forms of knowledge by which they 
generalize and classify when considering the events of 
our nation's life; e. g., the well-known relations of 
contiguity, resemblance or analogy and causality.''^ 

In illustration of the application of the first, the 
events of U. S. History could be considered in a geo- 
graphical relation and in relation to the life of any in- 
dividual embodying a principle; e. g., Jefferson — when 
the endeavor could be made to have the pupils grasp 
the succession of events by referring them to certain 
definite stages in his life; thus, his birth, education, 
early character and his various official stations; the con- 
dition of the nation at his retirement to private life, 
and at his death. Such could be the manner at all 
stages of our history, serving as a net to apprehend and 
retain the complicated details of our progress. 

In illustration of the second relation it may be said 
that the events of one epoch of U. S. History could be 
arranged and classified by their similarity to or differ- 
ence from those of another. Moreover, if the pupils 
compare the lives of men given to different pursuits. 



356 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

but exhibiting under these the same qualities, which 
have led to equal success in their pursuits, they are 
dealing with the relation of analogy, another kind of 
resemblance, and a most instructive relation in U. S. 
History, by which, indeed, it has much of its weight as 
an aid to morality and forecast. 

The nature of the third of these relations will be 
sufficiently set forth when it is said that the record of 
the events of our nation may be arranged by attributing 
the acts of our leading men to their motives, and by 
tracing in the great movements of our national life, the 
natural consequence of certain features that have pre- 
viously characterized it ; as when, in considering the 
physical comfort .11 id well being of our people, the 
pupils are led to associate certain states of body or mind 
with circumstances of their homes, or their personal 
liabits. 

The investigation of the subject, under these relations, 
prepares the pupil to comprehend the inner life of his 
country, and not only to comprehend its inner life, but to 
firmly hold in memory the events that are the manifes- 
tation of that life. For it is well known that when 
pupils are systematically held to analysis and recon- 
struction according to these relations, the memory 
finally acts through the exercise of the judgment, and 
thereby obtains a rational hold of events. 

In the true method in U. S. History the teacher 
would have clearly in mind : — 

1. The distinctive epochs as determined by prin- 
ciples. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 357 



2. The predominant principle that prevailed in the 
religions^ political and social relations of each epoch. 

3. The significant events that embody these princi- 
ples. Being in thorough possession of these, the teacher 
should, in the first place, lead the pupils to a clear com- 
prehension of the central religious, political and social 
principles of to-day. It then devolves to set forth clear- 
ly, the great religious, political and social principles as 
they appeared in the beginning of the first epoch, in the 
lives and actions of our sturdy forefathers. 

It is incumbent in the third place to trace and ex- 
hibit these most definitely as they are seen in the essen- 
tial and momentous events of our history, through their 
onward movement, their collisions and fusings, until 
they are seen as producing the triumphant principles 
of religious, political and social relations of which the 
pupils are having daily experience ; thereby presenting 
to them U. S. History in accordance with three of the 
fundamental principles of education in general, as pre- 
sented above. 

THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL PHASES OF THE STUDY. 

The method of considering U. S. History, indicates 
clearly its intellectual character. It involves the judg- 
ment to the extent to which the pupil possesses that 
power. This is apparent from the nature of the course 
proposed. The outward events are considered, in so 
far as the pupil is able, in the light of the principles 
they embody, or in connection with their causes, means 
and consequence. Thus, in the Mexican War, when 



358 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

the principles in which it originated are all made clear, 
he is able to decide whether the real cause coincides 
with the ostensible one. Of the people engaged, the 
pupil is to be shown the principle of each in the con- 
flict, and to estimate their prudence, vigor and valor. 
He is to have presented the more obvious results of the 
struggle, and is to be led to comprehend how these 
directly followed from it. 

The memory is not to be tasked to commit these 
leading facts, until the judgment has acted, and hence 
the action of memory is rational. 

In addition to the habit thus indicated of judging be- 
tween things related to each other as cause and effect, 
or as means and end, the study of U. S. History, like 
the study of Geography, requires the constant exercise 
of comparison between events not in juxtaposition ; that 
is, there is a constant comparison of the principles and 
events of one epoch with those of another, and espe- 
cially with those of the present. 

What the pupil knows of the present is his only 
criterion for judging, and therefore for comprehending, 
the past. The full and distinct impression of the 
principles, institutions, character and events of any 
past epoch, is not the true historical knowledge which 
the public requires. This is an indispensable element 
of history, but not history. 

To have real history, there must be added to this 
element a vivid and extensive knowledge of the pres- 
ent. 

When the pupil in U. S. History studies a principle, 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 359 

an enactment or a social or religious habit, character- 
istic of a past epoch in our history, he must be led to 
point out its advance upon the preceding epoch ; and 
then his attention must be fixed upon its representative 
in the present epoch, in order that he may note the ad- 
vance that his own age has made upon it. At each step 
in our political, religious and social advancement he 
should decide what the given epoch still wanted of 
present privileges, as each new means of diffusing 
knowledge was discovered, the obstacles that still re- 
mained to be removed in later epochs ; and as any im- 
provement in the arts of industry and living was learn- 
ed, how much of an advance was yet to be made before 
the comforts of to-day were reached. In this way only 
is it possible to study the progress in the wonderful 
history of this' republic. Without this ever active 
spirit of comparison the epochs of Bradford, and of 
Winthrop, and of Washington are separated from the 
pupil of to-day by an impassable gulf, and have for him 
but little reality and interest. Their actors are but 
specters, and not men, unless they are studied in the 
light of the present. 

This indicates another intellectual phase of tlie sub. 
ject — the imaginative. The method advocated would 
make U. S. History eminently a study of the imagin- 
ation, and that in a double sense : — 

1. The pupil is to receive a lively impression of the 
succession of events. 

2. He is to have made real to him the actual life of 
the past ; hence the principle before adverted to, " the 



360 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

history of any epoch should be studied from the pages 
of its own historian." For it is requisite that he call 
before him the real actors, see them in their occupa- 
tions, enter into their feelings, and obtain, as it were, a 
visible reality of the scenes in which they moved. In 
other words, it is necessary that, for the time, the pupil 
shall live in the epoch that is being studied. If he ob- 
tain any lasting impression of a bygone epoch, it is 
through a mental effort, of which the imagination is 
one element. The pupil must, in U. S. History, be led 
to exercise to the full capacity, his powers of rational 
judgment, comparison, imagination and intentional 
memory. 

Moreover, it has been set forth as a principle of his- 
tory, that it deals with the deeds of men as a manifes- 
tation of free-will. It will therefore, be clear that U. S. 
History appeals to the moral nature, and has a moral 
purpose. No pupil who has not a clear knowledge of 
U. S. History can feel an enlightened interest in its fame 
and its privileges, or judge of those discussions of vital 
topics which are unceasingly before the people of this 
Union, or even understand its current literature. And 
without this knowledge he is excluded from all those 
pleasant associations which almost every spot of its soil 
suggests to him who has intelligently traced its growth 
from the compact on the May Flower to the present. 

But beyond contributing in this intellectual way to 
raise the whole tone and temper of those who study it, 
to the teacher the thought should ever be prominent 
that U. S. History stands forth with strong claims to be 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 361 

regarded as a great moral teacher of American youth. 
This thought is grounded on two great principles — that 
the true purpose of a nation is a moral one, and not the 
protection of life and property ; and that history deals 
with the deeds of men as the manifestation of them in 
the realm of free-will. U. S. History exhibits the 
punishment of crime sometimes after temporary suc- 
cess ; and when crime seems continuous in its prosper- 
ity, it exhibits the miseries that follow in its train. " It 
gives ground for personal improvement in the historic 
characters, whether good or bad ; it furnishes lessons to 
the pupils in the devotion of the patriot, the integrity 
of the honorable, the charity of the pious, not less than 
in the craft and falsehood of the intriguer, the corrupt- 
ness of the unjust, and the unscruijulousness of the 
selfish." 

U. S. History elevates the character of the pupil by 
the attractions of its virtuous, and by the repulsion of 
its vicious elements. Thus it is that the history of this, 
the great public, occupies no mean place among the 
educational instruments for forming the moral judg- 
ment of its youth. 

(See Cyclopedia of Education ; Hildredth's History of the U. 
S.; Lectures on Modern History — Dr. Arnold ; The Battle of 
Long Island — Harper, Mar., 187(3 ; The Fifteen Decisive Battles 
— Creasy; Some Unpublished Letters of Washington — Harper, 
March, 1878; New York in the Revolution— Scribner, Jan. 
and Feb., 1876; A. Piece of Secret History — Scribner, Feb., 1876; 
Camp fires of the Revolution — Parley ; The Mohawk Valley 
During the Revolution — Harper, July, 1877 ; General Stark 
and the Battle of Bennington — Harper, Sept., 1877 ; The 



362 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Campaign of Burgoyne— Harper, Oct., 1877; Bancroft; The 
Last Cause— Pollard ; The War Between the States— Stephens; 
The American Conflict— Greely ; The Memoirs of W. F. 
Sherman, and The Memoirs of U. S. Grant ; The Century's 
War Articles, 1885-86.) 

THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 

The study of this should commence with a general 
examination of the different forms of government in 
the world — Patriarchal ; Theocratic ; Monarchical, Abso- 
lute, Limited, Hereditary, Elective; Democratic and Re- 
publican — with historic examples. 

Then the class should next enter on an examination 
of the government of the United States. Although 
such analysis begins with the most complex and highly 
organized government in the world, it finds the pupils 
already prepared for the instruction, by having lived in 
the country and entered into the spirit of the nation 
and people. 

As it more intimately concerns them and their fu- 
ture, their interest is readily awakened. And as it is 
conspicuous as a representative form of government, 
which form is being more and more adopted and ex- 
tended, the knowledge thus acquired raises them to a 
position where they can easily study and understand 
other governments, and the laws of civil government in 
general. There is, besides, a certain connection be- 
tween this government and that of England. A certain 
political evolution brought it forth from a limited 
monarchy. The teachings of the Commonwealth of 
Milton, Locke, Sidney, Penn and others, united with the 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 363 

experience in colonial and local government here, edu- 
cated the people, step by step, for a government of the 
people, by the people, for the people. Now this con- 
nection — this evolution furnishes a very interesting and 
instructive opportunity for studying the progress of 
government, through English history, from savage des- 
potism to the most highly organized form of modern 
free government. 

A brief examination of the settlement and early his- 
tory of the United States, including, particularly, the 
government of the Colonies, and their efforts towards 
union for protection and common good, serves as an in- 
troduction. 

Advancing to the Declaration of Independence, the 
Revolution and the Articles of Confederation, the class 
study the first {Political organization ; and then proceed 
to the Constitution itself. 

It enters as far as possible into the rigorous necessity 
which forced each change in the organic Liw. The pu- 
pils are to be led to study with intense interest the 
terse and comprehensive clauses of the preamble which 
set forth the exigencies which produced the Constitu- 
tion. 

And here the study of the Constitution proper be- 
gins. 

It is found to divide, almost at once, into three great 
branches. First, the Legislative, or Law Making; sec- 
ond, the Executive, or Law Enforcing ; third, the Ju- 
dicial, or Law Interpreting. 

When the pupils have investigated each of these 



364 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

branches in detail, they are ready to observe the deli- 
cate checks and balances sustained between them, and 
the mutual strength and support they furnish. 
^ Then follows the prohibitions, limiting the powers of 
the general government. That is to say, an enumera- 
tion of the acts the government cannot do, except in 
certain emergencies, which are described: such as the 
suspension of the writ of habeas corpus ; interference in 
inter-state commerce ; the appropriation and drawing 
of public money, except as provided ; the creating of 
titles of nobiHty ; the passing of bills of attainder, or ex 
post facto laws and the restriction of civil and religious 
freedom. That is to say, no religous test shall be re- 
quired as a qualification to any office, neither shall any 
law be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the 
press ; and the right of the people to keep and bear 
arms shall not be infringed. 

Then follows the Rights of the States, such as repre- 
sentation in the two houses of congress, privileges of 
citizenship, elections, militia, federal protection, to wit : 
a guarantee of a republican form of government ; and 
freedom from foreign invasion and domestic violence. 

Next, the subordination of states, their powers and 
limitations. And finally, the several amendments of 
the Constitution, and the events which produced them. 

Occasion will be found at every step to refer to the 
British Constitution, or to English history or English 
literature, as well as our own history and Hterature. 
Because all these contributed to the Constitution, in its 
inception, and some of them have thrown light upon it 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 365 



since. The great judicial decisions also elucidate and 
explain it, and must be in constant use in the class. 

This knowledge of the general government furnishes 
the basis for a thorough knowledge of the government 
of the states, and renders it easy and simple, because it 
is generally the model on which they are fashioned. 

The connection between the state government and 
the administration of county and town affairs is so 
close, that they are to be studied next. And hardly 
anything exceeds the interest that may be awakened in 
a class, over these elementary or primary organizations. 
It is a rich field in American civil government. 

Having reached this point our attention is turned to a 
few principles of municipal law, e. g., the distinction be- 
tween common and statute law. Civil rights, personal 
security, liberty, private property, something of the law 
of contracts, marriage, principal and agent, partnership, 
sales, gifts, fraudulent transfers, bills of exchange, in- 
terest, insurance, estates in real property, deeds and 
mortgages, landlord and tenant, the distribution of 
property after death by statute and by will, a little in- 
ternational law, the relations of nations at war and at 
peace. 

The class then study and describe the various offices 
in the civil service, with their powers and duties, from 
the chief magistrate to the justice of the peace; the 
methods of courts of law, both in mesne and final pro- 
cess; the methods and detail of law making, both 
judge-made and statute law ; the ofiicers of court and 
their duties. Here, as elsewhere, the interest may be 



366 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

heightened by personal reminiscence, biographical inci- 
dent, and by historic allusions to eminent persons, in 
active official duty, both in the United States and other 
countries. Thus the pupils have presented government 
as a living, real thing. The greatest orator has told us 
that his power consisted in action; so government inaction 
in the hands of living or historic men, is taught. 

Throughout this course of study, civil service reform 
ma}^ and should be constantly inculcated. It is the 
golden moment in which to teach that office is a sacred 
public trust which is to seek the man ; that patriotism, 
the public good first, ought of right to be the one grand 
leading purpose of office holders; that the man who 
perverts a public political trust to private uses, merits 
the contempt of mankind, and deserves to mate with 
traitors ; and that whoever neglects his public duties in 
official station to secure his own re-election, is of that 
that class and quality. So are those persons who trade, 
compromise and barter their vote and public influence 
for selfish, personal ends, whose votes are not on their 
convictions and conscience, but guided by their proba- 
ble effect upon their own fortunes at the next elec- 
tion. 

Walter Savage Landor has portrayed the supreme 
peril of political life and ambition. He says : " When 
Satan would have led our Savior into temptation, 
he did not conduct Him where the looser pas- 
sions were wandering; he did not conduct Him 
amid flowers and herbage, where a fall would only have 
been a soilure to our frail human nature ; no, he led 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 367 



him up to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed 
him palaces and towers and treasuries, knowing that it 
was by these alone that he himself could have been so 
utterly lost to rectitude and beatitude. Our Savior 
spurned the temptation, and the greatestest miracle was 
accomplished. After which, even the father of lies 
never ventured to dispute His divine nature." 

What a beautiful model of the just statesman is given 
for the instruction of American youth, by Daniel Web- 
ster, in the character of Washington. He says : " In 
the first place, all his measures were right in their in- 
tent. He stated the whole basis of hia own great char- 
acter, when he told the country, in the homely phrase 
of the proverb, that 'honesty is the best policy.' One 
of the most striking things ever said of him is that 'he 
changed mankind's ideas of political greatness.' To 
commanding talents and success, the common elements 
of such greatness, he added a disregard of self, a spot- 
lessness of motive, a steady submission to every public 
and private duty, which threw far into the shade the 
whole crowd of vulgar great. The object of his regard 
was the whole country. No part of it was enough to 
fill his enlarged patriotism. His love of glory — so far 
as that may be supposed to have influenced him at all 
— spurned everything short of general approbation. It 
would have been nothing to him, that his partisans or 
his favorites outnumbered, or outvoted, or outmanaged, 
or outclamored those of other leaders. He had no 
favorites ; he rejected all partisanship, and acting hon- 



368 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

estl}^ for the universal good, he deserved what he so 
richly enjoyed— the universal love. 

" His principle it was to act right, and to trust the 
people for support ; his principle it was not to follow 
the lead of sinister and selfish ends, nor to rely on the 
little arts of party delusion to obtain public sanction 
for such a course. Born for his country and for the 
world, he did not give up to party what was meant 
for mankind. The consequence is, that his fame is as 
durable as his principles, as lasting as truth and virtue 
themselves. While the hu'ndreds whom party excite- 
ment and temporary circumstances, and casual com- 
binations have raised into transient notoriety, sink 
again like thin bubbles, bursting and dissolving into 
the great ocean, Washington's fame is like the rock 
which bounds that ocean and at whose feet its billows 
are destined to break harmlessly forever." 

Another noble example is found in Aristides the 
Just, contrasted with the selfish and time-serving Them- 
istocles, related with classical beauty in Plutarch's lives. 

With this foundation, students may go on to compar- 
ative politics. They may seek in other governments, 
first, the three great branches — Legislative, Judicial 
and Executive. If they fail to find either branch, then 
they may search for the department which holds that 
power. 

Representative government, and its extension and 
growth in the governments of the world, is full of in- 
terest and instruction. These investigations ought to 
be carried out in elaborate written essays, to give full 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 369 



and permanent possession of the knowledge acquired. 

Nothing will inspire greater respect for and confidence 
in their own government, than this study. Admiration 
of the wisdom, integrity and patriotism of the fathers, 
will awaken and stimulate in their own bosoms, greater 
patriotism, greater love of fatherland. 

A general survey of 1he whole subject, with lessons 
on pohtical evolution and sciology will furnish a suita- 
ble conclusion to the foregoing instruction." 

(See Webster and the Constitution— Harper, March, 1877; 
State and Society in Washington— Harper, March, 1878 ; Our 
Civil Service— Harper, July, 1877 ; Instruction in Political Sci- 
ence — Augustine Jones.) 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE. 



FIRST STAGE. 
Word and Sentence-Making, 



. Correction of oral errors. 

S r Color. 

^<o I I Form, 

'^ i Free oral expression of thought upon lessons in ■! Size, 
m 1 I Reading, 

•^ [General Lessons, etc. 

^ \ Copy work. (1) from board, (2) from book. 

I ,. — 

A single expression for a given idea or thought. 

Sentence-Making. 



Correction of oral and written errors f Color. 

I Form, 
Free oral expression of thought upon lessons in -! Size, 

1 Reading, 

^ ^ Copy work from board and book. [General Lessons, etc. 

g Dictation work in sentences. 

g Expression in written sentence or separate sentences of a thought obtained 
^ .from a sentence in reading book, without previous oral discussion of 

the sentence in the book. 



A single expression for a given thought. 
24 



370 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



Sentence-ma k ing. 



-el 



Correction of oral and written errors. f Color. 

I Form, 
Free oral expression of thought upon lessons in ■} Size, 

Reading, 
Dictation work in sentences, t General Lesons, etc. 

Expression in separate written sentences of thoughts obtained from two 
or three sentences in reading hook. 

The making of original separate sentences— On position, qualities of ob- 
jects, single actions, a leaf and leaves, a plant and plants, a fruit and 
fruits, an animal and animals, a mineral and minerals, man and his 
works, pictures, etc. 



A single expression for a given thought. 

All education consists of the development of thought 
and expression. The thought must precede the expres- 
sion. This principle has not been adhered to in 
language work sufficiently. 

The underlying principle that should be kept in 
mind during the entire language work, is that thought is 
prominent, while expression is only incidental. In 
grammar work, however, the expression is made prom- 
inent and the thought explanatory ; hut power to think 
is the aim. In the first two years of language the 
single expression for a given idea is to be carefully and 
continually observed ; but in the third year, while this 
is continued, variety of expression is sought. If the 
teaching in these years should consist in the training of 
expression without regard to thought, the child's imi- 
tative powers alone are cultivated, while his creative 
strength is allowed to remain dormant. This change 
from a single expression for an idea to a variety of ex- 
pressions for the same should be gradual, for " Nature 
does nothing by leaps, but proceeds gradually and 
smoothly from the simple to the complex." It is 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 371 



the nature of the mind in investigating to learn, first 
particidars— noon it spontaneously observes similarities, 
— and then is naturally led to generalize and classify, 
after which it names and gives definitions. If success 
is to be attained in the work, this idea is to be ever held 
in mind : That during the first three years' work, the 
sentences are all to be clear, simple, separate English 
sentences. Pupils should not be permitted to write 
connected sentences, until they have formed the habit 
of good single sentences. In each year there should be 
a correction of oral and written errors at the exact time 
that they are made. The teacher may call attention to 
this, or may have the pupils do so. The one who made 
the error must then repeat the sentence again and cor- 
rectly. In this correction,— when the error is made— 
the thought and not the expression is uppermost in the 
mind ; but when the attention is called to the correction 
of the error the expression then is specially noted. In 
the free oral expression of thought upon lessons in 
color, form, size, reading, general lessons, etc., the ulti- 
mate end is training and a knowledge of the object, 
shown in the thoughts expressed in regard to it. The 
object should be placed before the child and he be per- 
mitted to see what he can, and then tell in definite 
separate sentences what he sees. Then by judicious 
questioning and devices he can be led to see more. 
Thus he will become skilled to observe and think, and 
at the same time be learning many useful and import- 
ant facts. 

Only one particular should be presented at the be- 



372 THE THEORY OF THE'SCHOOL 

ginning, as that is Nature's method of procedure. 
That is, one definite color, one form or size, etc., is to 
be taught. 

Toward the close of the first year, copying words 
and sentences from the board and also from the 
book is to be begun. This will impress upon the mind 
unconsciously the form or arrangement in general of 
the elements of the sentence and the modifiers, the 
punctuation, capitalization and other things to be 
noticed in a good sentence. In copying work from the 
board the script will be learned ; and the work is easier 
than if taken from the book, since the sentences stand 
alone, disconnected from others, with which they are 
connected in the book. In the second year dictation 
work is begun. In order that this may not be a leap 
from the preceding year's work, it is connected with the 
first in that the sentence is written as usual upon the 
board, time given for its imprint upon the mind, then 
erased and given orally. This is continued for some 
time, when the writing on the board is omitted and the 
sentences are merely dictated and written from mem- 
ory. The written expression of a thought obtained 
from a sentence in the reader by the pupil, without the 
previous discussion of it, is another phase. The sen- 
tence is reproduced by the pupil either as it occurs, or 
it is modified by the pupil. 

In the third year this becomes more complex, from 
the fact that several sentences are to be reproduced in the 
same manner. In this year variety of expression for 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 373 

the same thought or idea is entered upon. Also, the 
making of original separate sentences upon given topics 
or objects, is begun in semi-regular lessons. 

SECOND STAGE. 

Connected Sentence-making, i.e., Composition. 



Correction of oral and written errors. 

,, . . „ ■ r. fNoun. 

Variety of expression for- p^Qj^Qm^ 

Connected Sentence-making— On natural objects, plants, fruits, animals, 
minerals, tools and manufactured articles, geographical subjects, 
pictures, actions, etc. 

Expression in connected written sentences of thoughts obtained from a 
paragraph in reading book . 



Variety of expression for a given idea or thought. 

Connected Sentence-making. 

Correction of oral and written errors. 

(Verb. 
Variety of expression for-^ Adverb. 

(Adjective. 
■{ Connected Sentence-making— On natural objects, plants, fruits, animals, 
minerals, tools and manufactured articles, geographical subjects, 
pictures, actions, etc. 
Expression in connected written sentences of thoughts obtained from 
two or more paragraphs in reading book. 



Variety of expression for a given idea or thought. 
Connected Sentence-making. 



Correction of oral and written errors. 

Variety of expression for Phrase. 

Connected Sentence-making— On natural objects, plants, fruits, animals, 

minerals, tools and manufactured articles, geographical subjects, 

pictures, actions, etc. 
Expression in connected written sentences of the thoughts obtained from 

three or more paragraphs in reading book. 



Variety of expression for a given idea or thought. 



374 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 



Connected Sentence-making. 



Correction of oral and written errors. 

,, . , ^ . . J The Clause. 

Variety of expression for jxhe Ellipsis. 

Connected Sentence-making— On natural objects, plants, fruits, animals, 

minerals, tools and manufactured articles, geographical subjects, 

pictures, actions, etc. 
Expression in connected written sentences of the thoughts obtained from 

a whole section in reading book. 



Variety of expression for a given idea or thought. 

The language work, which was incidental in the first 
and second years, and semi-incidental in the third year, 
becomes regular and formal in the fourth year. 

The work throughout the period extending from the 
fourth to the eighth year, is to be based largely upon 
two prevailing thoughts : 

1. The fundamental ideas of grammar are : 
a. Use. 

6. Classification based upon use. For example, 
the word mountain is classed as a noun, by reason of its 
use in naming an object, but in the phrase — a mountain 
stream, on the ground of its use in limiting the word 
stream, it is classed as an adjective. The idea of use is 
the final appeal in all questions in grammar, and pro- 
ficiency in this subject requires skill in determining the 
exact use of expressions. 

2. The fundamental idea of composition and rhet- 
oric is appropriateness. Thus, in the sentence, '' The 
monks yielded to the Pope ; but John, defying the 
Pontiff, drove the monks from the monks' abbeys," 
grammar does not question whether it is better to use 
the word Pontiff instead of repeating the word Pope; 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 375 

nor does it ask whether one should use the word them 
instead of the second word monks ; neither does gram- 
mar inquire as to the comparative merits of the words 
monks' and their^ as limiting the word abbeys. But all 
these questions must be considered in composition and 
rhetoric, for they deal with not only the grammatical 
expression of thought, but especially with the com- 
parative appropriateness of different grammatical ex- 
pressions. 

It is not to be forgotten that language as a subject 
of school instruction, is, like all other subjects, a means 
and not an end ; that it is taught, not for its own sake, 
but for the sake of the mind considering it. It is an 
instrument for mind training. The highest aim of 
language work is to train the mind to think. The 
second aim is to master language as an instrument, in 
order that thought may be expressed and interpreted 
with accuracy and facility. A third design is to lay the 
foundation for an intelligent study of grammar, com- 
position, and rhetoric, as succeeding subjects of study ; 
language as here used being limited to elementary work, 
and not including these subjects, which are of course? 
included in the general term — language. 

Language lessons, being fundamental to grammar, 
composition and rhetoric, as indicated in the third 
purpose, should be to a considerable extent deter- 
mined by the underlying ideas of those subjects, i.e., use 
and appropriateness. These being the ideas, also, that 
predominantly pertain to language as an instrument of 



376 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

thought, they are the guiding ones, considering lan- 
guage work, as to its three-fold aim. The specific 
province of language work in grades, say from the 
fourth to the eighth — the period preceding text-book 
grammar — would, therefore, seem to be to thoroughly 
ground the pupil in : 

1. The use of expression. 

2. Fullness and variety of expression, as a basis for 
future classifications. 

3. The power to weigh expressions as to appropri- 
ateness. 

It is evident from what has been given, that the gen- 
eral process of work would involve in regard to each 
point in language the substitution of an equivalent ex- 
pression for a given expression. 

Consider, for example, the sentence, "The monks 
yielded to the Pope, but John defied the Pope." 

The point in language that the child is to be led to 
comprehend, is that the English language provides two 
equivalent expressions for the word Po2)e as used in the 
second place, L e. Pontiff and him. Indeed, two do not 
at all exhaust the equivalent expressions for the term 
given. 

The various steps in the work, in dealing with the 
point are : 

1. To lead the pupils to determine the exact nature 
and use of the expression given. (The word Pope in 
the second case.) 

2. To lead the pupils to make the substitution. As 
follows, if the point in language is the use of the pro- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 377 



noun for the noun—" The monks yielded to the Pope, 
but John defied him." Thus, if the point should be 
the use of a noun of equal extent for another noun — 
"The monks yielded to the Pope, but John defied the 
Pontiff." (Both points should not be taught at the 
same stage, the one being under substitutions of the 
pronoun, and the other of the noun. The terms noun 
and pronoun need not be used). 

3. To lead the pupils to determine the exact nature 
and use of the substituted expression. 

4. To have the pupils weigh accurately the two ex- 
pressions — Pope and him ; or Pope and Pontiff, by the 
idea of appropriateness. 

THE SERIES OF EXERCISES. 

1. In the first exercise, the teacher explains, by means 
of a set of examples, a given substitution. 

2. In the second exercise, the teacher tests the pupils, 
by means of a second set of examples, upon the sub- 
stitution made in the first exercise. 

3. In the third exercise, the pupils are required to 
select from their text-books examples in which the 
same substitution may be made, and to make the sub- 
stitution. 

4. In the fourth exercise, the pupils are required to 
select from newspapers and literature in general, ex- 
amples in which the same substitution may be made, 
and to make the substitution. 

5. The fifth exercise is three-fold in its nature :— 



378 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

a. The preparation by the pupils of an original ex- 
ercise in writing. 

b. The discussion of all the substitutions previ- 
ously considered that may be made in the exercise. 

c. The re-writing of the exercise, in which re- 
writing all substitutions that are demanded by appro- 
priateness or fitness are to be made. 

The fifth exercise should be given from five to ten times dur- 
ing the year. It involves : — 

In the Fourth Year Orade, compositions, narrative in form, 
and letter-writing. 

In the Fifth Year Grade, compositions, descriptive in form, 
and letter- writing. 

In the Sixth and Seventh Year Grades, compositions, both nar- 
rative and descriptive in form, biographical sketches and letter- 
writing. 

The substitutions presented in the outline for the various 
grades are considered as suitable in difficulty to the develop- 
ment of the pupils, but if careful work upon a given substitu- 
tion proves it to be too difficult for the grade to which it is 
assigned, it should be deferred until the pupils are better fitted 
to deal with it. 

The outline of illustrations is not to be considered as pre- 
senting all the forms of substitutions that ihe language affords, 
but merely those that are most essential. 

The examples that have been selected to illustrate the out- 
line are not, in the main, so simple as those that should be pre- 
sented to the pupils. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 379 

VARIETY OF EXPRESSION. 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FOURTH YEAR. 

SUBSTITUTIONS FOR NOUN. 

1. Noun. 

Of equal extent. 

He boasted of his feats and compared them to 
the feats of ancient heroes. Exploits. 
Of greater extent. 

He was extremely fond of coffee, and often 
praised coffee. That beverage. 

Of collective nouns for class nouns. 
He welcomed his tenants. Tenantry. 

Abstract noAins for class nouns. 
Young people are rash. 
Youth is rash. 

2. Pronoun. 
Personal. 

An Englishman's house is an Englishman's castle. 
His, 

Indefinite. 

Strange sounds frighten a person. One. 

Relative. 

She walked by the side of her father ; her father 
walked on in silence. Who. 
Demonstrative. 

Though he was a valiant soldier, he was not a 
valiant soldier alone. He was not this alone. 



380 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



Pronominal adjectives. 

Here are some cherries. You may have two cher- 
ries. Two. 

3. The Noun Phrase. 

The better part of valor is discretion. Is to he dis- 
creet. 

4. The noun clause. 

England's tvealth is well known. That England is 
ivealthy, is well known. 

SUBSTITUTIONS FOR PRONOUN. 

1. Reverse of substitutions for noun in so far as they 
relate to pronouns. 

2. Noun phrase or Infinitive. 

To do this is brave, but it is not wise. But to do 
this is not wise. 

3. Noun clause. 

He declared that their leader was slain, but they 
would not believe it. Would not believe that their leader 
was slain. 

FIFTH YEAR. 
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR VERB. 

Voice. 

Soldiers filled Newburg. Newburg was filled by 
soldiers. 

SUBSTITUTIONS FOR ADVERB. 

1. Adverbial Phrase. 

It has rained incessantly all the week. 

It has rained without cessation all the week. 

2. Adverbial clause. 

I am contented here. 

I am contented where I am. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 381 



SUBSTITUTIONS FOR ADJECTIVE. 

1. Noun. 
Possessive. 

This was said with umitermd pride. A mother^s 
pride. 

2. Adjective phrase. 

This is a steel pen. 
A pen of steel. 

3. Participial phrase. 

The puhlie burdens are heavy. Burdens home by 
the public. 

4. Adjective clause. 

He has powerful friends. Friends who are power- 
ful. 

SIXTH YEAR. 
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR THE PHRASE. 

1. The Noun Phrase replaced by — 
Nouns. 

To be just is more important than to be generous. 
Justice \s more important than generosity. 
Noun Clause. 

To obey is their only safety. 

That they should obey is their only safety. 

2. The Adjective Phrase replaced by — 
Adjectives. 

The house of my uncle was destroyed. My uncleh 
house was destroyed. 

She wore a dress of blue. 
She wore a blue dress. 
Nouns. 

In apposition. 



382 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Having shared in his disasters, were they not to 
share in his triumphs ? 

Shares in his disasters, etc. 
Used as an adjective. 
This ring is of gold. 
This is a gold ring. 
Adjective Clauses. 

The crime of Sunderland was never forgiven. 
The crime which Sunderland committed was never 
forgiven. 

Adverbial Clauses. 

The judges, holding their office by favor of the king^ 
were obsequious. 

As the judges held their office by favor of the king, 
they were obsequious. 

Co-ordinate expressions. 

The island, being encircled by a coral reef, was very 
difficult of approach. 

The island was encircled by a coral reef and was 
very difficult of approach. 

3. The Adverbial Phrase, replaced by — 
Adverbs. 

Rizzio was murdered in this room. Was mur- 
dered here. 

Adverbial clauses. 

The prince was found in the fiercest of the battle. 
The prince was found where the battle was fiercest. 
Infinitives. 

He was pleased on hearing of the decision. 
He was pleased to hear of the decision. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



383 



Co-ordinate Expressions. 

After a hard struggle, he at length recovered. 
He struggled hard and at length recovered. 

SEVENTH YEAR. 
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR THE CLAUSE. 

1. Noun Clause replaced by — 
Nouns. 

That you were weak was your excuse. Weakness 
was your excuse. 
Noun Phrases. 

That one should he so afflicted is a great misfortune. 
To he so afflicted is a great misfortune. 

2. Adjective clause replaced by — 
Adjectives. 

A man who is diligent, will succeed. 
A diligent man will succeed. 
Adjective Phrases. 

He was a man ivhose integrity tvas unquestioned. 
He was a man of unquestioned integrity. 
Co-ordinate Expressions. 

His schemes uMch were very amMtious, were never 
carried out. His schemes ivere very ambitious, but were 
never carried out. 

3. The Adverbial Clause replaced by — 
Adverbs. 

I shall remain where I am. 
I shall remain here. 
Adverbial Phrases. 

Coblentz stands ivhere the Moselle joins the Rhine. 



384 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

Coblentz stands at the junction oj the Rhine and 
Moselle. 

Co-ordinate Expressions. 

When she looked uj)^ she saw it approaching. 
She looked up and saw it approaching. 

ELLIPSIS. 

1. In Noun Positions. 
After adjectives. 

The future shall obliterate the past. 

Future time, etc. 

After possessive case. 

I stopped at the grocer^s. Store. 
Pronouns as subject of an imperative verb 

Spare my eyes ! 

Spare yoit my eyes ! 
Pronouns as subject of verbs in other moods. 

Thank you. 

/ thank you. 
'• To " of infinitive omitted. 

Better be dead. 

To be dead would be better. 

Bid him go. 

Bid him to go. 
Object omitted. 

Heat expands. 

Heat expands susbtances. 

2. In Predicate. 

A ministering angel thou ! 
A ministering angel art thou ! 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 385 



3. In Adjective Modifiers. 

The President resides in the White House. 
The President of the United States, etc. 

4. In Adverbal Modifiers. 
Preposition omitted. 

He waited an hour. 
He waited during {or jor) an hour. 
Noun omitted in adverbial phrases. 
I have never seen him since. Since that time. 

5. In Noun Clauses. 
" That " omitted. 

I hope you will succeed. 
I hope that you will succeed. 

6. In Adjective clauses. 

" That," as object, omitted. 

Show m'e the passage you quoted. 

Show me tlie passage that you quoted. 
Preposition omitted. 

There was hardly an hour that something did 
not happen. 

There was hardly an hour that something did 
not happen in (or during). 

Preposition and relative omitted. 

The moment I saw it, I remembered it. 

In the moment at ivhich I saw it, I remembered it. 
Antecedent omitted. 

Whom the gods love die young. 

Those whom the gods love, etc. 

7. In Adverbial Clauses. 

That is important if true. 

25 • 



386 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

That is important if it is true. 

Speak as distinctly as you can. 

As you can speak distinctly. 

He is taller than I. 

He is taller than I am tall. 
8. In Compound Sentences. 
Of common elements. 

He came yesterday and returned to-day. He 
came yesterday and he returned to-day. 

I take this ; you that. You take that. 

Their welfare pleased him and their cares dis- 
tressed. 

Their welfare pleased him and their cares dis- 
tressed him. 

Of the conjunction. 

Send out more horses ; scour the country round ; 
hang those that talk of fear. 

Send out more horses and scour the country 
round ; aiid hang those that talk of fear. 
Of two or more common elements. 

Queen Elizabeth, knew instinctively how far she 
could go and what she could do. 

Queen Elizabeth knew instinctively how far she 
could go and Queen Elizabeth knew instinctively what she 
could do. 

The structure of the Sentence. 



>^a 

rig 

o 



Correction of oral and written errors. 

Expression in connected written sentences of the thought obtained 

from a selection in the reading book. 
The thought and its elements. 
The sentence and its elements. 

Par^infr with I '^^^^ t^^''*^ of speech. 
Parsing with | r^^^ principal inflections. 



Generalization, Definition and Classification. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 387 



The oral grammar stage may be considered under : — 

Purpose. 

Central Thought. 

Scope. 

General Method. 

Order of Instruction. 

1. The pvrpose is to train the pupil by giving him a 
conception of the nature ot the parts of speech and their 
principal inflections. 

2. The central thought is that grammar should be pre- 
sented as a body of results obtained from the obser- 
vation of language, and not as a collection of rules ex- 
ercising an arbitrary and mysterious power over lan- 
guage from without. 

3. The scope includes : — 

a. The thought and its elements. 

b. The sirhple sentence and its elements. 

c. The parts of speech. 

d. The principal inflections. 

e. Parsing. 

4. The general method : 

a. The method is to be oral and is to proceed 
analytically, i. e., it is not to impart rules and apply 
these as if language were the product of grammar, but 
is to attain all results by the pupil's own induction up- 
on examples of expression submitted to him for exam- 
ination. 

b. The starting point is to be the thought and the 
simple sentence, on the ground that the parts of speech 
can be adequately illustrated only by reference to their 
whole, by their use in which, their nature may be deter- 
mined. 



388 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

c. The explanation of grammatical forms must be 
based on an understanding of the meaning. The nature 
of all classes of expressions must, therefore, be made 
familiar to the pupil before their terms are used. 

d. Throughout this stage, the language presented 
for the pupil's observation should be mainly furnished 
orally by the teacher and the pupils ; for the reason 
that such illustrations are more familiar and interesting 
than those drawn from books. 

5. The order of instruction : 

a. With parts of speech. 

Observing the logical succession, the following order 
of procedure may be suggested : 

(1.) The presentation of sentences containing a 
given part of speech. 

(2.) Investigation of the nature and use of the 
part of speech being considered. 

(3.) Other examples of the same part of speech 
furnished by the pupils. 

(4.) The application of the name. 

(5.) Additional examples furnished by the pupils 
together with the reason for their being such. 

(6.) Construction of definition. 

(7.) Memorizing of definition. 

b. With inflections. 

These, as the parts of speech, may be best presented 
through the sentence ; e. g. — 
(1.) Number. 

(a.) Present a series of sentence in pairs, each 
pair containing a given verb and subject, but differing 
in the number of the subjects. 

(b.) Consideration of the use and form of the 
words. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 389 

(c.) Additional examples given by teacher 
and pupils. 

(2.) Case. This may be presented in a similar 
manner. It is well, however, to employ pronouns in 
order to have the assistance of change of form in lead- 
ing to a comprehension of the relation. 

(3.) Tense. In explaining this, some such order 
as the following may be observed : 

(a.) An example involving the first person may 
be given ; as, I write the word. 

(b.) Obtain other examples in which the same 
verb form is used, as, with you, (sing.) loe, you, (pi.) they. 
Also examples in which the other form is used ; as with 
he, she and it. 

The observation of these examples will fix the pre- 
vailing identity and the single difierence which mark 
the present tense. In similar manner the other tenses 
may be considered. 

Founded on like observation of sentences the pupil 
may be led, in dealing with the adjective and the ad- 
verb, to see that they are not inflected for number, 
case, etc., but only for comparison. 
c. With parsing. 

An efficient instrument in grounding the pupil in a 
knowledge of the parts of speech and their principal 
inflections, is the exercise termed parsing. 

Since, however, it deals with the relations of words 
to other words, it involves the element of syntax, and 



390 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

is employed more largely in the suceeding stage. It is 
desirable, however, to consider in connection with this 
stage certain features in regard to parsing, as — 

The condition of the pupil as to syntax. 

The application of parsing. 

The marks of good parsing. 

The condition of the pupil in regard to syntax is that the 
subject is a matter of habit with him and he has a prac- 
tical knowledge of the subject, but is not possessed of 
its rules. He stands now in the same relation to the 
rules of syntax that he did at the beginning of the 
stage in regard to the parts of speech, and the method 
of attaining a knowledge of the rules of syntax is 
essentially the same as that employed in learning the 
parts of speech. Each syntactical relation should be 
illustrated by means of sentences exemplifying it. 

The application of parsing under any given rule of 
syntax is two-fold : 

To trace the application of the rule within examples 
arranged for the purpose. 

To trace the application of the rule in passages from 
the reader. 

The marks of good parsing are four : — 

That the procedure should be from the general to the 
particular. 

That the process should be the work of the pupils 
themselves, and not dependent on reiterated questions 
at each step. 

That the order of parsing words should be that of 
logical connection. 

That the parsing should deal mainly with the critical 
words in the structure of the sentence. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 891 




CHAPTER IX. 



THE RECITATION. 



"Kindness adds sweetness to everything. It is kindness that makes 
life's capabilities to blossom, and paints them in cheery hues, and endows 
them with their invigorating fragrance. Whether it waits on superiors, or 
ministers to inferiors, or disports itself with equals, its work is marked by a 
prodigality which the strictest discretion can not blame. It does unneces- 
sary work, which, when done, looks the most necessary work that could be 
done. If it goes to soothe sorrow, it does more than soothe it. If it relieves 
a want, it cannot do so without doing more than relieve it. Even where it 
is economical in what it gives, it is not economical in the gracefulness with 
which it gives. The secret impulse out of which kindness acts is an in- 
stinct which is the noblest part of ourselves, the most undoubted remnant 
of the image of God, which was given us at first. It is the nobility of man. 
It runs up into eternal mysteries. It is a divine thing, rather than a hu- 
man, because it springs from the soul of man, just at the point where the 
divine image is graven deepest." 



"A LOVING heart is the beginning of all knowledge. This it is that 
opens the whole mind, and quickens every faculty of the intellect to do its 
fit work." — Caelylb. 



PRINCIPLES. 



1. The recitation is the predominant element of the 
school ; all other agencies being auxiliary to it, and de- 
signed to promote its ends. 

2. The true recitation is one in which the mind of the 
teacher addresses the individual minds of the pupils, in 
accordance with the actual condition of the various 



392 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 



minds, in order to lead them into communion with the 
mind, made external to a degree, in the exercise- 
ground. 

3. The purpose of the recitation is : — 

a. To give the mind strength and skill, by exercising 
it upon the ideas involved in the object of study. 

b. To give an insight into the true method of study. 

c. To test as to the knowledge and power gained by 
the preparation for the lesson. 

d. To supplement that which the pupil has gained 
in his preparation. 

PHYSICAL CONDITION. 

Of surroundings. 

1. Seating. 

a. Size of desks. 

b. Arrangement. 

2. Light. 

a. Its two-fold end. 

b. Best mode of admitting light. 

c. Blinds. 

d. Tint of walls. 

3. Ventilation. 

a. The ceiling. 

b. Arrangement of the window. 

c. Escape flues. 

d. Expedients. 

e. Causes of impure air. 

(1) Respiration. 

(2) Combustion. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 393 



(3) Uncleanliness. 
/. Effects of impure air. 

4. Temperature. 

a. Object of heating. 

6. Average temperature of a room. 

5. Site of school building. 
a. General nature. 

6. Play-ground. 

a. General nature. 

7. Out-door exercise. 
a. Object. 

h. Kinds. 

8. Intermissions. 
a. Object. 

Oj pupil and teacher. 

1. Each should be, in so far as possible, in a con- 
dition of general health, and bodily freedom and com- 
fort. 

2. At the time of any severe mental application, 
each should be to as high a degree as practicable, m a 
state of freshness and energy, and the times of the day 
appropriate to the different forms of mental applica- 
tion should be carefully observed. 

MENTAL CONDITION. 

Of pupil. 

The pupil should be in a state of genuinely interested 
attention in the work, and in sympathetic harmony with 
the teacher, with the other pupils, and with the object 
of study. 



394 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



INTEREST — HOW PROMOTED. 

Interest is derived from iMer meaning between, and est, 
from esse, meaning to be. Literally, therefore, interest 
means it is between. This indicates that there are two 
things, between which is a third thing. On one hand 
is the untrained mind with its natural disinclination to 
continuous effort in a given direction, and on the other 
hand, a certain subject or lesson requiring close effort to 
master it. To master the point of knowledge requires 
attention. But attention by its literal meaning signi- 
fies effort. It means a stretching to — the very tiling that 
the untrained mind is averse to. Whatever stands be- 
tween this tendency of the mind to avoid continuous 
effort and the knowledge, the mastery of which requires 
effort, and thereby attaches the mind to its work, is 
interest. Attention is the concentration of the mental 
faculties upon a given subject. It is therefore, an act of 
will, and is based upon motive. The motive is interest 
of some kind. Every lesson requires effort. It is es- 
sential therefore, especiall}^ in primary work, that the 
lesson be interesting. 

Interest is the basis of attention. 'Attention in the 
child is feeble, and capable of but limited continuance. 
It grows stronger by exercise, and interest is the great 
promoter of its exercise, and thereby of permanency in 
the knowledge gained, or the power of memory.' 

Interest may be introduced into a lesson, and the at- 
tention gained, by appealing, among others, to either of 
four laws or motives : — 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



395 



The law of activity ; 
The law of curiosity ; 
The law of sympathy ; 
The law of power. 
The pupil is by nature inclined to mental and to 
manual activity (though not continuous as necessary 
for mastery). 

He should, therefore, not be a passive listener, but 
should be led to exercise his mind upon the material 

presented. 

His manual activity should also be employed, when- 
ever the progress of the work permits. 

Curiosity exists by nature, and may be very strongly 
excited ; it is gratified by the imparting of information 
on topics, and in a manner suited to the pupil's ca- 
pacity. 

The teacher who speaks to the intelligence of his pu- 
pils, and interests their feelings, imparts to the subject 
interest, and thereby gains and holds their attention. 
It has been said that nothing which excites the wonder 
or kindles the delight of pupils, is soon lost by them. 

Under the law of sympathy, interest and attention 
will exist in the pupil in proportion to the kind and de- 
gree of personal ascendency which the teacher has ob- 
tained. If this be well established, the pupil will make 
great efforts to enter into the work of the teacher, both 
from his instinct of imitation, and from the happiness 
which he derives from sympathy. In such a case, what 
the one is interested in, will be just what the other is ; 
so completely does the pupil enter into the mind of the 



396 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

teacher, that he eagerly tries to anticipate the line of 
action which he feels the teacher intends to follow. 
Hence the importance of genuine interest in work, as 
manifested by the teacher ; it fixes the attention almost 
without the consciousness of either that there is effort 
being exerted. If the pupils see that the teacher's inter- 
est is awakened, and his curiosity excited by the idea of 
making some new observation, or ascertaining some new 
fact, they will soon try to anticipate the discoveries. 

If they observe him to be interested in the study of 
flowers, in determining the elements of climate, or in 
tracing the relations existing between natural features 
and the habits of man, they will be delighted with the 
same. " Example, emulation, curiosity, the most nat- 
ural stimulants at an age when pleasure is so vividly 
enjoyed, and the idea of utility is so indistinct, will all 
act in unison." 

The law of power is employed to awaken the interest 
and attention whenever there is a recognition of infor- 
mation or of mental or manual power on the part of 
the pupil. 

Later in the work the idea of utility may be employed 
in connection with this law; as when the relation of the 
subject matter to mental or manual power is shown. 

ATTENTION. 

An act of knowing " may be performed with greater 
or less energy. This greater or less energy in the oper- 
ation of knowing is called attention, which word, as its 
etymology suggests, is another term for tension or 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 397 

effort, and was doubtless first transferred to the 
spiritual operation from the strained condition of 
the part or whole of the bodily organism, which accom- 
panies or follows such effort." Attention is the concen- 
tration of the powers of the mind upon a given instru- 
ment of training, at a given time. It is involved in all 
good teaching, but not as a condition, except to a limited 
degree. It is the ixsult of good teaching. As has been 
said in another connection, the child is by nature inat- 
tentive, if by attention is meant continuous effort. At- 
tention is a habit to be acquired. Being a habit, it is 
subject to the law that the mind tends to act again as it 
has acted. One act of attention makes the next one 
easier, and the next still easier until at last attention 
becomes second nature, i. e., habitual. 

Likewise, on^ act of inattention makes a second more 
easy, etc. Attention, then, is a habit, a mental growth. 
It requires in its development, effort, and is consequent- 
ly, based upon motive. Attention is an act of will. The 
will may be trained and controlled. Everyone, there- 
fore, has the power, to so develop mentally that he may 
attend at will. It is a question, then, of desire or 
motive. 

To give close attention for any considerable period of 
time is very difficult. The experience of every one 
will testify to this. Even the person whose powers are 
substantially mature, finds it difficult to give fixed at- 
tention ; and for children to give fixed attention to pre- 
scribed subjects, and at prescribed times is especially 
difficult. Yet difficult as it is attention must be obtained. 



398 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



It cannot be obtained, however, by demand or entreaty; 
by urging upon the pupils the importance of the sub- 
ject, and the brevity of school time. 

These last are very valid considerations with the 
mature, but nothing can be relied upon to secure the 
attention of the child, for any considerable period, but 
a genuine interest in the subject itself. 

How can this be promoted? Several conditions 
have already been referred to. Among the remaining 
ones are the following : 

1. Accurate and ample preparation for the work by the 
teacher, through a careful study of the subject in text- 
books, and of the active, practical world, in which the 
children and himself move. 

2. Close attention to the mental a,nd physical condition 
of the class. 

3. Careful and systematic review. 

4. The avoidance of stereotyped routine. 

5. The cultivation of the power of verbal illustration. 

6. The cultivation of the power of drawing. 
Of Teacher. 

1. A knowledge of the subject of education, together 
with its inferences. 

2. A knowledge of the aim of education. 

3. A knowledge of the principle and the condition of 
education. 

4. A knowledge of what is meant by the exercise- 
grovnd in education. 

5. A knowledge of the school in relation to other in- 
stitutions. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 399 

6. A knowledge of the trend of educational thought and 
method, as seen in : the Greek, Roman, and Jesuit edu- 
cation, and in the works of 

Ascham, (1515). 
Montaigne, (1533). 
Ratich, (1571). 
('omenius, (1592). 
Milton, (1608). 
Locke, (1632). 
Rousseau, (1712). 
Basedow, (1723). 
Kant, (1724). 
Pestalozzi, (174.6). 
Fichte, (1762). 
Richter, (1763). 
Jacotot, (17700. 
Herbart, (1776). 
Froebel, (1782). 
Sturm, (1803). 
Spencer, (1820). 

The teacher should understand the fundamental 
ideas of these so that : 

a. His mind may be led in the right direction. 

b. He may dwell upon essentials in his work. 

c. He may avoid errors, long known to be such. 

7. Matured habits of regidurity, punctuality, silence, 
politeness and kindness. 

8. A knowledge of the subject, much more ample 
than that which is to be imparted. 

9. Power of rich illustration. 



400 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

10. Skill in blackboard drawing. 

11. Ability to write well on paper and on blackboard. 

12. Power of vivid narration and description. 

13. Power to question with accuracy and judgment. 

14. Interest in the children and in the work. 

15. Knowledge of the methods appropriated, (In- 
volving a knowledge of and smypathy with the pupils' 
minds.) 

Scholarship, if combined with natural aptitude in 
imparting, can accomplish much in teaching; these, 
and a knowledge of the general or fundamental princi- 
ples of teaching, more ; tlie foregoing, combined with a 
thorough mastery of the specific method of each sub- 
ject, and practical experience in applying it, most. 

The comprehension of the specific method of any 
subject must be thorough enough to reach its rational 
basis, i. e., it must be seen to rest upon the nature of 
the subject and upon the nature of the pupil's mind in 
the various stages. The first is, and has long been, gen- 
erally admitted ; the second is beginning to be. The 
teacher, through any specific method, is assumed to be 
cultivating the mind. But this cannot be done unless 
the teacher has an insight into mind action, and knows 
that the method is based upon the laws of such action. 
Unless such is the case, education might recognize cer- 
tain faculties in operation, but others, which ought to 
be active but are dormant, it would not notice ; it would 
meet with obstacles to progress which it could not re- 
move ; errors of conduct to which it could apply no 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 401 

remedy ; it would give preference to those motives 
which we most easily obey, rather to the highest. 

Its method, not founded on principles, would be a 
thing of accident ; at best a combination of expedients 
with no consciousness of one purpose; if right at any 
time, right only by chance ; most probably a confusion 
of methods, undoing at one time what has been done 
at another ; feeble and irregular, wanting both the power 
to mould and the beauty to attract. Mere empirical 
teaching, it is true, may not be altogether unproductive 
of valuable results ; by closely following prescribed laws, 
much good may be done. But much more can be done 
if the ground and spirit of these laws are compre- 
hended ; while man}^ cases must arise which the pre- 
scription does not provide for. Moreover, it will doubt- 
less be conceded that it is better to be a conscious than 
an unconscious agent; to be rationally adapting means 
to end. 

Notwithstanding a method may be rational it should 
not be applied rigidly and unvaryingly in every school 
and under all circumstances by any teacher, nor should 
its interpretation and application be precisely the same 
in the same school and under the same circumstances 
by different teachers ; i. e., since a method is a mode by 
which one mind addresses other minds, it should be so 
individualized by the teacher as to be adapted to the 
natural and acquired aptitudes of both the mind ad- 
dressing and the minds addressed. 

This is merely to present the evident truth that the 



402 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

intelligent teacher is of more importance than his 
method ; that his sympathy with the minds to be ad- 
addressed, his force of personal character, and the de- 
gree of interest and intelligence with which he is able 
to invest a method, must always transcend its mere 
technical propriety. 

Each individual teacher should adopt that method 
which is best suited to his natural aptitudes, and in 
which he has the strongest rational faith, relying upon 
the thought that a sympathetic, earnest and judicious 
manner of dealing with the pupils will secure success, 
whether the given method is strictly rational or not; 
since it is moral considerations which determine the 
progress of the pupils, rather than the intellectual pro- 
priety of the method employed. 

In this thought lies the explanation of the success 
that has attended the use of the alphabetic, phonic, and 
various other methods which are not in all respects in 
thorough accord with the principles of mental activity. 
The teachers who introduced them, and many who 
afterward employed them with success, believed in 
them and applied them with devotion. 

It may be reasonably held, however, that the success 
in such cases was not at all commensurate with what it 
would have been had these teachers thoroughly compre- 
hended the nature, in general and in detail, of a spe- 
cific method for the given subject that was more rational 
and harmonious, and then had invested it, in its appli- 
cation, with their personality and devotion. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 403 



KINDS OF EXERCISE-GROUNDS OR INSTRUMENTS. — (SUBJECTS.) 

1. The idea or notion. 

(' External object. 

a. Individual. -~ An action or event changing from 

( one phase to another. 

b. General. 

2. The thought or judgment. 

a. Individual. 

b. General. 

THE VARIOUS POWERS BROUGHT INTO ACTIVITY IN ACQUIRING 
AND RETAINING THE STORE OF IDEAS. 

1. In dealing with the general notion and judgment, 
the faculty prominently exercised is that of reflection 
or thought. 

2. In dealing Avith the external object and vrith 
changing evetits: 

a. If these come directly under the observation, 
the faculty prominently exercised is perception. 

b. If they do not come directly under the obser- 
vation, the facult}^ prominently exercised is imagination. 

THE GENERAL METHOD APPROPRIATE IN THE USE OF EACH KIND 
OF INSTRUMENT OR EXERCISE-GROUND. — (SUBJECT.) 

1. The method appropriate to the treatment of the 
general idea or notion is Definition, mainly by : — 

a. Example. 

b. Analysis. 

c. Antithesis. 

2. The method appropriate to the treatment of the 
external object is Description, mainly by : — 



404 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

a A general plan. 

h. A succession of views. 

c. The condition at a particular time. 

3. The method appropriate to the treatment of chang- 
ing events is Narration, mainly by presenting : — 

a. The result of the series of events. 
6. The events in their sequence. 
c. A summary. 

4. The method appropriate to the treatment of the 
judgment is Exposition, mainly by : — 

a. Example. 
h. Illustration. 

c. Iteration. 

d. Obverse iteration. 

e. Pointing out the difficulty. 

These methods are appropriate because the mind, in 
originally acquiring the ideas or judgments, naturally 
pursues the methods given. 

In preparing to present a lesson from a text-book, the 
teacher should decide — 

a. The nature of the subject. 

h. The method by which the author has treated it. 

c. Whether the method of the author needs expla- 
nation. 

d. By what other methods appropriate to the sub- 
ject, the author's method may be supplemented. 

THE GENERAL ESSENTIALS IN DEALING WITH ANY KIND OP AN 
INSTRUMENT. — (SUBJECT.) 

The foundation essentials are that the teacher should 
determine : — 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 405 



1. The subject and its nature. 

2. The design, special and general. 

3. The basis, or the mental possessions of the pupils 
that are to form the foundation of the new knowledge. 

4. The steps, or the constituent ideas of the complex 
subject. 

5. The means required for the end proposed. 

THE EXERCISE-GROUND OR INSTRUMENT. — (SUBJECT.) 

The subject of any particular lesson is that thought 
or idea which is dealt with, and the consideration of 
which by one or more methods is completed in a recita- 
tion. Not every thought or idea that is dealt with and 
the consideration of which is completed is the subject. 
The subject is the main or central thought or idea. 

THE DESIGN. 

The special design is that purpose which is perceived 
when the lesson is viewed as isolated. It is to give a 
knowledge of the subject, or to again bring before the 
mind such knowledge, if it has once been presented ; or 
to give new or greater power to the mind in any specific 
direction. There may also be another special design in 
conformity to this principle— the formation of character 
is the ultimate aim of all education. 

" The teacher should therefore constantly watch all 
the opportunities which the lessons present of enforcing 
right principles and right views of things. 

Every lesson which can be brought to bear on the pu- 
pil's character and circumstances should be so directed 



406 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL 

that knowledge and action may have that association 
in his mind that alone gives value to either. 

No general rule can be given, regulating the substance 
of this part of the lesson. 

Sometimes a religious reflection is suggested, as ac- 
knowledgement of the wisdom, power or goodness of 
God, or our duty towards Him; sometimes a moral 
duty ; sometimes a prudential rule of life. But what- 
ever be the lessons suggested in any case, these consid- 
erations should be borne in mind : — 

a. They should not be forced. It is better not to 
moralize at all than to do so out of place. Not every 
lesson admits of being turned to practical account in 
this way. 

b. Even when reflections of this kind are quite nat- 
ural, they should not be introduced as mere statements ; 
the lesson should be so conducted that it shall, of itself, 
suggest the reflection. 

c. There should not be more than one or two reflec- 
tions associated with each lesson. It may be said that, 
as a rule, a lesson should suggest pre-eminently but one 
leading reflection. 

d. Whatever expansion of a moral is introduced 
should be not in the way of reiteration but of applica- 
tion. A combination of circumstances in which the 
pupil often finds himself should be selected in order to 
show how the lesson just deduced should regulate his 
conduct therein." 

The general design is that purpose which is perceived 
when the lesson is viewed as one of a series. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 407 



The general design as to knowledge is to give a knowl- 
edge of the smallest whole of which the subject is a 
part ; e. g., when a lesson is given on the Wabash River, 
the special design is to give a knowledge of that river, 
and the general design is to give a knowledge of the 
rivers of Indiana. 

The general design as to mental discipline is the cul- 
tivation of the mental power or powers prominently 
employed in gaining a knowledge of the subject. 



THE BASIS. 



The basis of any lesson is that knowledge related to 
the subject of the lesson, possessed by the pupils, which 
the teacher employs. 

The principles involved in the basis are two : — 

a. The mind in acquiring proceeds from the known 
to the related unknown. 

b. Interest is the basis of attention. 
The basis is employed :— 

a. To arouse and retain the interest and attention. 

b. To explain the new knowledge. 

THE STEPS. 

Every subject is complex ; the analysis into its con- 
stituent ideas indicates the steps. 

The steps are the acts of the mind in acquiring or re- 
calling these constituent ideas. 

A step is indicated by stating the idea or thought to 
which the mind has advanced. 

It is requisite in a lesson : 



408 THE THEORY OP THE SCHOOL 



a. That the steps should be arranged in logical suc- 
cession. 

h. That there should be regularity of procedure from 
step to step. 

c. That each step should receive its just proportion of 
treatment. 

MEANS. 

Under means are considered questioning, repetition, 
and explanation. 

1. Questioning. 

If information were the end of the school, the teacher's 
qualifications should be: knowledge of his subjects; gen- 
eral knowledge of mind; pleasant manner; fluency of 
speech; knowledge of the nature of description and nar- 
ration; and richness of illustration. But the design of 
the school being to make the mind skillful and strong, 
the teacher must be equipped with one other instru- 
ment in addition to the above — the 'power to question ivith 
skill and judgment; and no other single means, perhaps, 
justly assumes the importance of this power. 

Questioning is an art. That is, it is a practical power 
— something that is learned not by hearing lectures up- 
on it, but by doing it. Proficiency in it is learned as in 
every other art, by practice. Education in it comes 
through experience. To become a skillful questioner 
requires patient, watchful practice. But if that were 
all, it would be sufficient to say to the young teacher, — 
"Take charge of a school; begin work with your classes; 
and learn the art of questioning by actual questioning." 

Questioning is not only an art, however ; it is also a 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 409 

» 

science. That is, the art of questioning rests upon a 
body of principles; and the teacher should know the 
principle underlying any given practice in questioning; 
he should be acquainted with the general principles that 
he is to apply to specific cases: he is to know the why 
as well as the how. 

The purpose of questioning may be viewed as three- 
fold : 

1. It is to disclose to the teacher, before he attempts 
to present a new thought, the actual condition of the 
pupil's mind; to reconnoiter, in order to see how the 
child's ideas are encamped; to plough up the mental soil, 
so that the mental germs may have freedom to spring into 
stronger life; to make the learner conscious of the limits 
of his knowledge, and to open to his mental view the 
latent known. In one sense the aim is to apply the 
"torpedo's electricity," and in another to awaken the 
stimulus of curiosity. 

2. The second aim of questioning is to stimulate, 
suggest, and direct, but not to tell, or unduly assist ; to 
lead the mind to act upon the new knowledge and 
assimilate it; to cause the mind to connect the new 
knowledge with the old by its innumerable relations, 
i.e., to organize its knowledge; to awaken new desires, 
and to develop new capacities for satisfying those de- 
sires. Indeed, the object of this kind of questioning is 
almost identical with that of school education — the point- 
ing out of the knowledge that is of most worth, the creating of 
a desire for it, and the developing of the poiver to obtain it. 

3. The third design of questioning is to test whether 



410 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

the work indicated under the second design has been 
done; to examine upon work assigned; to see what re- 
mains in the pupil's mind ; to determine what added 
power he has at the conclusion of a given work. 
There are, therefore, three kinds of questions : 

1. The search question. This may also be termed 
the reconnoiter question, and the Socratic question. 

2. The stimulative-directive question. This has been 
called the instructive or Socratic question. 

3. The test question. (Examination oral or written.) 
Each of these classes of questions may be set forth 

more clearly by an illustration. 

Thus, in illustration of the first may be cited a por- 
tion of Socrates' dialogue with Meno. 

Meno asks whether virtue is acquired by teaching or 
by practice. Socrates replies that he does not as yet 
know what virtue is, and has never known any one 
who did. 

' Then he cannot have met Gorgias when he was at 
Athens.' 

Yes, Socrates had met him, but he has a bad mem- 
ory, and has forgotten what Gorgias said. 

Will Meno tell him his own notion, which is prob- 
ably not very different from that of Gorgias ? 

' yes — nothing easier ; there is the virtue of a man, 
of a woman, of an old man, and of a child ; there is a 
virtue of every age and state of life, all of which may 
be easily described. 

By the cross-questioning of Socrates, Meno was com- 
pelled to frequently change his position, until he finally 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



411 



became confused and complained of the negative qual- 
ity of Socrates' teaching, saying that the conversation 
has had the effect of a torpedo's shock upon him. 

When he talks with other persons he has plenty to 
say about virtue, but in the presence of Socrates, his 
thoughts seem to desert him.' 

In order to demonstrate the province of this kind of 
questioning, Socrates calls to him one of the attendants 
of Meno, and the following dialogue, substantially, en- 
sues : — 

Socrates. " What figure is this ? " 



Boy. " A square." 

S. " What do you see as to the lines ? " 
B. " They are all equal." 
S. -'May a square be of any size?" 
B. "Certainly." 

S. "If each side be two feet in length, how many 
square feet will it contain ? " 
B. " Four." 
S. " Can there be another square just twice as large 

as this?" 

B. "Yes." 

S. " How many square feet will it contain ? " 

B. " Eight." 

S. " Tell me the length of the line which forms a 
side of that double square." 



412 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



B. "Clearly, Socrates, it will be double." 

S. " Do you observe, Meno, that I am not teaching 
the boy anything, but only asking him questions ; 
and now he fancies that he knows how long a line 
is necessary in order to produce a figure of eight square 
feet ; does he not ? " 

Meno. " Yes.*' 

S. " And does he really know ? " 

M. " Certainly not." 

>S. " He only guesses that, because the square is 
double, the line is double." 

M. "True." 

>S. " Observe him while he recalls the steps in order." 

(To the hoy.) "Do you assert that a double space 
comes from a double line ? " 

B. "Yes." 

*S'. "But does not this line become doubled if we 
add another such line here ? " 



B. " Certainly." 

S. "And four such lines will make a space contain- 
ing eight square feet ? " 
B. "Yes." 
S. " Let us describe such a figure : 



sq. 
foot 















THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 413 

Is not that what you would say is the figure of eight 
square feet?" 

B. "Yes." 

S. "And are there not these four divisions in the 
figure, each of which is equal to the figure of four 
square feet?" 

B. "True." 

S. " And is not that four fours ? " 

B. "Certainly." 

S. "And four fours is not the double ? " 

B. "No, indeed." 

S. "But how much?" 

B. " Four times as much ? " 

S. " Therefore, the double line, has formed a space, 
not twice, but four times as great ? " 

B. "True."' 

S. " And four fours are ? " 

B. "Sixteen." 

*S'. "What lines would give you a space of eight 
square feet, as this gives one of sixteen square feet; 
do you see ? " 

B. "Yes." 

S. And the space of four square feet is made from 
half this line? 

B. Yes. 

S. Good; and is not a space of eight square feet 
twice the size of this and half the size of the other ? 

B. Certainly. 

S, Such a space will be formed upon a line greater 
than this one and less than that one ? 



414 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



B. Yes ; that is what I think. 

S. Very good; I like to hear you say that you think. 
Is not this a line of two feet and that of four? 

B. Yes. 

aS^. Then the line which forms the side of eight 
square feet ought to be more than this line of two feet, 
and less than the other of four feet? 

B. It ought. 

S. How long will it be ? 

B. Three feet. 

S. Then if we add a half line to this line of two feet 



that will be a line of three feet. 



Here are two feet and there is one. And on the other 
side, here are two also and there is one : 



And that makes the figures of which you speak? 

B. Yes. 

S. But if there are three square feet this way, and 
three square feet that way, the whole space will be three 
three-square-feet ? 

B That is evident. 

S. And how many are three three-square-feet? 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 415 



B. Nine square feet. 

S. And what is the double of four square feet? 

B. Eight square feet. 

S. Then a figure of eight square feet is not made out 
of a line of three feet? 

B. No. 

S. But from what Une? Tell me exactly; and if you 
would rather not reckon, show me the line. 

B. Indeed, Socrates, I do not know. 

S. Do you see, Meno, what advances he has made ? 
He did not know at first, and he does not know now, 
what the side of a figure of eight squre feet is, but then 
he thought that he knew, and answered confidently as 
if he knew, and had no difficulty ; but now he has a 
difficulty, and neither knows nor fancies that he knows. 

M. True. ' 

S. Is he not better off" in knowing his ignorance ? 

M. I think that he is. 

S. If we have made him doubt, and given him the 
"torpedo's shock" have we done him any harm ? 

M. I think not. 

S. We have certainly done something that may as- 
sist him in finding out the truth of the matter; and 
now he will wish to remedy his ignorance, but then he 
would have been ready to tell all the world that the 
double space should have a double side. 

M. True. 

S. But do you suppose that he would ever have in- 
quired, or learned what he fancied he knew and did not 



416 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

know, until he had fallen into perplexity under the 
idea that he did not know, and had desired to know ? 

M. I think not. 

>S'. Then he was the better for the torpedo's touch? 

M. I think he was. 

Socrates was a philosopher, a profound student of 
mind action, and the greatest of secular teachers, and 
his questioning is worthy of thoughtful study. 

The inferences from this example of the first kind of 
questioning are plain : 

1. The teacher is, as a preliminary step, to obtain 
light as to what the pupil already possesses, and as to 
his existing mental power, in order that he may the 
better see how to adapt his teaching to the. pupil's con- 
dition. 

2. The pupil must be led to see what he does not 
know, i. e., his difficulty. 

3. The pupil is to be shown his latent known, i. e., 
the foundation that experience has given him. 

4. The desire for new power and added knowledge 
must be implanted. 

All these things are to be accomplished by means of 
the search or preliminary questions. The distinctive 
mark, then, of these questions is that they — 

1. Disclose to the teacher the actual condition of the 
pupil's mind in regard to the given exercise-ground, or 
instrument of training. 

2. Make the pupil conscious of his need. 

3. Show him his foundation. 

4. Awaken his interest in the attainment of power 
and knowledge. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



417 



As an illustration of the second kind of questioning, 
the continuation of Socrates' dialogue with Meno's at- 
tendant will serve. In the first kind the boy had been 
shown his dificulty, and had had his curiosity aroused 
as to its proper solution. To this solution Socrates pro- 
ceeds : 

S. Mark now, Meno, the farther development. I 
shall only ask him, and not instruct him, and he shall 
share the inquiry with me; and do you watch and see if 
you find me tellhig or explaining anything to him, in- 
stead of eliciting his opinion. (To the boy.) What is 
this I have drawn ? 



A square of four square feet. 
And now I add what ? 



! I I 



B. Three other squares, each equal to the first. 

;S^. We have, then, what? 

B. Four equal spaces. 

S. How many times is this space as large as the 
former? 

B. Four times. 

S. But it ought to have been how many times as large? 

27 



418 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



B. Two times. 

S. Draw a line from this corner to that one, and so 
in each space. 





y 


\ 


! 








K 




3 


z 


^ 



What does each line do to each space ? 

B. It divides it into two equal parts. 

S. What is true of the lines ? 

B. They are equal. 

S. How much space do they inclose ? 

B. I do not understand. 

S. How mucli of the four si)aces have tliese lines cut 
off? 

B. Half of (them). 

S. How much was there in the first space? 

B. Sixteen square feet. 

S. Then how many in tliis ? 

B. Eight square feet. 

S. From what line do you get this figure? 

B. From this one. 

S. How may you describe it? 

B. By saying it extends from one corner to its op- 
posite. 

S. What is the line called? 
B. I do not know. 
S. Show me other lines like it. 

Very good. Such a line is called a diagonal. Point 
out other diagonals. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 419 



What is the double of a space ? 

B. The square of its diagonal. 

S. What do you say of him, Meno ? Were not all 
these answers given out of his own head? 

M. Yes, they were all his own. 

From this example of the second kind of questioning) 
the distinctive marks of the class appear : 

1. They suggest but do not inform. 

2. They tend to establish a logical connection be- 
tween the old and the new ; to make the new a devel- 
opment from the old. They lead to the expansion of 
the germs that lie hidden in the child's mind. 

The third kind of questioning needs no illustration. 
It is exemplified in all oral and written examination, 
and by recapitulations at the close of lessons, or divis- 
ions of lessons. The distinctive marks of the third 
kind of questioning are : 

1. It tests whether the pupil has added power. 

2. It tests whether the knowledge has been accurately 
learned and thoroughly organized. 

3. It tends to deepen and more firmly fix what has 
been gained. 

Each kind of question should be carefully considered 
as to structure and sequence. 

1. In regard to structure. 

The questions should be simple, short, and adapted to 
the capacity of the children. 

They should be such that the talk on the part of the 
teacher is at the minimum, while fullness and freedom 
of expression is required by them on the part of the 



420 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

pupil. Their tendency should be to keep the teacher 
and his work in the background, and to make promin- 
ent, the pupil and his work. Plainness and brevity are 
the desideratum. 

Another point in regard to structure is that the ques- 
tions should not be information- giving. A good question 
does not convey information. Each fact or idea should 
if possible be educed from the pupil. This indicates 
that the phraseology of the text is to be avoided in the 
construction of the questions. If the words of the 
book are employed in the question, the answer is sug- 
gested, and the pupil thereby deprived of the mental 
exercise that is the real aim of the questioning. 

A third thought in regard to the structure is that the 
question should be defi'iiite. An indefinite, equivocal 
question tends not to concentrate the mental energy 
upon the point desired, but to divide the mental energy. 
The tendency is also to inculate the habit of guessing, a 
habit fatal to accurate thought. 

2. In regard to sequence. 

The first thought concerning sequence is that the 
questions in a lesson should constitute a logical series. 

Desultory, random questioning produces but little 
that is valuable however well the question may be in its 
structure, and however well adapted it may be to call 
forth the activity of the pupil's mind. The claims of 
both mental discipline and knowledge require that each 
question shall have a logical connection with the pre- 
ceding one ; that each question shall seem to grow out 
of the preceding answer; and that each answer shall be 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 421 

the explanation of a point that was brought forward by 
the previous answer, but not made clear by it. This 
requires a habit on the part of the teacher of so ques- 
tioning that each thought advanced by the pupil shall 
be an outgrowth of his previous thought and a prepar- 
ation for the succeeding one. The true sequence in 
questioning is one that portrays the order in which the 
instrument for the mind's exercise would naturally un- 
fold itself in the mind of a trained, logical thinker. 

While, however, the teacher will have a logical plan, 
and a logical series of questions, he should not be in 
bondage to them. He should be a master of all his 
means to that degree that he can readily readjust, and 
adapt them to the wants of the pupils as disclosed by 
the progress of the lesson. Unlooked-for misconcep- 
tions may appear, the need of more ample illustration 
than was contemplated may become evident, and in 
various ways the children's mental needs may require 
digression from the pre-arranged questions. The main 
purpose of the lesson should, however, be adhered to, 
at least to that degree that no useless digressions shall 
occur. 

The second thought in regard to sequence is that the 
question should be addressed to the clajss as a whole, before 
the pupil who is to answer it is named. This is based 
upon the principle that the aim of the recitation is to 
give mental skill and strength. If the question is pre- 
sented to the whole class, every mind receives it and is 
exercised upon it, and is ready, therefore, either to 
answer it intelligently, or to discuss intelligently the an- 



422 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

swer given, in addition to the mental strength gained b}^ 
considering it. If the pupil who is to answer the ques- 
tion is named first, and the question is then asked, 
the above result is, to a degree, reversed. While 
this is to be the general rule, it should not, how- 
ever, be invariably adhered to as such adherence 
would tend to make the recitation stereotyped and 
monotonous, and the mind recoils from monotony. 

A third point under sequence is that there should be 
that continuity and steady flow of question and answer 
which is the result of animation on the part of the 
teacher. This animation, can arise only from an ample 
knowledge of the subject, or exercise-ground, special 
preparation for the given recitation, a real interest in 
the instrument of training, i. e., the ideas being dealt 
with, and pleasure in arousing, strengthening, and di- 
recting the action of the mental faculties of the pupils. 
Such a condition on the part of the teacher will result 
in giving vigor to his teaching, in making his illustra- 
tions graphic, in imparting earnestness to his manner, 
animation to his voice, and an active and impressive 
character to his questioning. 

Experience shows that slow, dull, heavy and involved 
questioning is wearisome to children, and deprives a 
lesson of its interest. It is necessary, therefore : 

1. To avoid long pauses between an answer and its 
succeeding question. 

2. To vary the phraseology of the questions. 

3. To avoid monotony of tone. 

4. To be animated in manner, and thus kindle inter- 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 423 

est and enthusiasm in the lesson, by exhibiting them in 
the questioning. 

Such considerations as these militate against the use 
of printed questions, or questions pre-arranged by the 
teacher, and brought before the class in the form of 
' notes.' It cannot be too often iterated that the teacher 
should make special preparation for each lesson, and 
have in mind a logical plan, and a logical series of ques- 
tions; neither can it be too often repeated that the 
teacher is to go before his class untrammeled by written 
plan, written questions, notes, or text books; for the 
minds of pupil and teacher must come into actual con- 
tact. And pre-arranged questions, whether printed or 
in notes, serve to divide the mental energy of the teach- 
er, and at the same time do not have the life and force 
of questions that are the outgrowth of two things : 

1. Careful previous preparation. 

2. Watchful consideration of the actual needs of the 
pupil at all stages of the recitation. 

The line of questioning is to be carefully thought out 
before the recitation, but in the presence of the class, 
questioning takes any direction whatever, is fragment- 
ary, changing as the difficulties of the pupils' minds 
change, disregarding all precise plan, provided that the 
general aim is held in view, and a close, laborious, and 
exact exercise of mind is the result. 

Under sequence, may be considered, in the fourth 
place, reception of answers. 

An answer as given by the first pupil reciting, may 
be: 



424 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL 

1. Right. 

2. Wrong. 

3. Partly right. 

It is in violation of the principle that the aim of the 
recitation is to train the mind, if in the first case the 
teacher states at once that the answer is correct. He 
should receive the answer, withhold his decision, obtain 
the thought of the different pupils, with their reasons, 
and having thoroughly exercised the minds of the class 
upon the point in question, decide definitely and 
clearly. 

The procedure in the second case should be the same 
with this addition — at the conclusion of the discussion, 
the question should be a^ain presented to the one who, 
at first, gave the wrong answer, and to all who subse- 
quently answered incorrectly. 

In regard to answers that are partly right, the decis- 
ion should be reserved and the point discussed, as in 
the previous cases, after which the teacher should recast 
his question, add a subordinate one here and there so as 
to disentangle the truthful element from the incorrect 
one, and then present again his original question to the 
pupil who first answered, and to the class. 

The fifth thought in regard to sequence is, that, as a 
rule, the question should not he repeated. It is obvious 
that the habit of repeating the question on demand, 
will foster inattention, and the opposite course, at- 
tention. 

To sum up all : the aim of questioning, as indicated 
in the statement of the purpose is to arouse thought, to 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 425 



promote mental activity, to develop accuracy in all the 
mental faculties instead of merely cultivating the verbal 
memory at the expense of the higher faculties and 
tendencies. That questioning is best which best stimu- 
lates mental action in the pupil ; which, according to the 
principle of Jacotot, gives him a habit of thinking and 
inquiring for himself; which tends to render him inde- 
pendent; which makes him a skilful inquirer after, 
rather than a receiver of truth. The success of ques- 
tioning, as of teaching, is to be determined, not by the 
amount of information that is imparted, but by 
the degree to which the judgment of the pupils 
has been strengthened, and their capacity to learn 
enlarged and skilled; by the degree in which it 
imparts to them an inquiring spirit, which is a 
far surer basis for future acquisitions than any 
amount of mere information can be. It has been said 
that ' Socrates originated a system of questioning that 
has been searching the world ever since it was em- 
ployed, and that it has quickened the perception of 
all generations; so that the result was that he who 
taught nothing produced disciples that learnt every- 
thing.' 

2. Repetition. 

Repetition has already been referred to as iteration. 

It is essential, especially in primary work, because 
everything is new to the pupils, and their minds have 
little power of retaining what they acquire. 

The concluding part of a lesson is generally devoted 
to a recapitulation of the leading points, but opportuni- 



426 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

ties for incidental repetition continually occur in the 
course of the lesson itself. 

There are two ways of repeating — the direct and the 
indirect. Both are necessary. 

In the former the thing is repeated in the precise form 
in which it was first communicated ; the design being 
to impress the memory. 

In the latter, the thing is repeated in another form ; 
i. e., the class is required to express from one point of 
view what was communicated from another. 

This process, besides appealing to the memory, is the 
educative process in every lesson. 

3. Explanation. 

There are two processes, both explanatory, which 
require to be distinguished — explanation proper and 
illustration. 

a. Explanation Proper. 

"A word, as 'spectacle' would be explained by say- 
ing that it means a view or scene, or all that we can see 
around us, or by some similar phrase. 

The proverb, "What a man sows, that shall he also 
reap," would be explained by saying that the conse- 
quences of our actions will be influenced by their char- 
acter, or the like. 

And so the process of sugar making would be ex- 
plained when an account of the successive steps in the 
process is given. 

Explanation proper, then, consists in stating an idea 
or fact in its simplest form." 

b. Illustration. 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 427 



Illustration, as here used, includes both illustration 
proper and example. 

(1) Kinds of illustration. 
Illustration is of three kinds : 

(a) Objective. 

(b) Pictorial. 

(c) Verbal. 
Objective Illustration. 

When the lesson is upon an object, whether an oral 
lesson or a reading lesson, the thing should be at hand 
if possible, so that the qualities for which it is known 
may be observed. 

An object is sometimes referred to incidentally, in the 
course of a lesson, to illustrate some of its topics ; in 
such a case the illustration is seldom satisfactory with- 
out the presence of the thing. 

This should not be neglected, as it often is, because 
its presence is seemingly immaterial ; the habit of veri- 
fication which it fosters is invaluable as a safeguard 
against vague or half-formed ideas. 

Pictorial Illustration. 

As it is but a comparatively small number of objects 
that can be brought under the notice of the class, how- 
ever, the want must be supplied as far as it is practica- 
ble, by pictorial illustration. This should be introduced 
just at that point of the lesson where it is needed ; i. e., 
after verbal work, as a picture will always be examined 
more effectively when the curiosity has been awakened 
by a previous description. 



428 THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 

If the pupil is led to first form the image for himself, 
he will afterward compare with interest his ideal one 
with the real. 

The picture should not he presented to him before it 
is to be used ; otherwise it will supersede his imagina- 
tion, and its use will be less impressive. 

Verbal Illustration. 

Verbal illustration is two-fold : — 

1'. The substitution of the particular for the 
general. 

Thus the word "spectacle" would be illustrated by 
presenting to the imagination of the pupil some con- 
spicuous point and causing him to realize that all that 
is to be seen from it may be termed a "spectacle." 

The illustration of "Whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap," would consist in referring the pupil 
to the process of sowing the seed in the ground, and the 
corresponding harvest. 

A virtue or duty, such as truthfulness or honesty, is 
illustrated in a story by which it is exemplified. 

2'. The substitution of one particular case 
for another with which it is analogous. 

Thus, "the boiling of the sugar cane may be compar- 
ed to the making of jelly, the melting of lead to that of 
wax, or the action of any historical character to some 
supposed similar one within one's own experience." 

The marks of good illustration are three — 

(1) "Illustration should be apposite. 

(2) Illustration should be interesting; i. e., must 
be drawn from something that has an interest for the 



THE THEORY OF THE SCHOOL. 429 

pupil. This implies that it be familiar; it is no illustra- 
tion to refer a thing or case which is unknown to anoth- 
er which is equally or more so. 

(3) Illustration should be clear and graphic." 
In using illustrations two errors are to be avoided : — 

(1) "The failure to set forth the illustration with 
sufficient amplitude to make an impression on the minds 
of the class. 

(2) The overburdening of the lesson with illus- 
tration. Important as illustration is, it must be kept 
in its place of strict subordination to the thing illustra- 
ted." 



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